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e 









THE STORY OF 


-\ 


TERRA COTTA 


WA LT E R GEER 


Illustrated 



New York 
Tobias A. Wright 
Printer and Publisher 
1920 






Copyright, 1920 
by 

Walter Geer 

JAN 26 1920 


©Cl, A 5 5 0 5 2 7 

^5 / 




CONTENTS 




CHAPTER I PAGE 

ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL TIMES 

First Employment of Terra Cotta—The Oldest 
Building Material—Greece and Rome—The 
Middle Ages — Italy — France — Germany— 
England—Modern Times . . . .11 

CHAPTER II 

THE UNITED STATES 

The Columbus Church—Tiles in Pennsylvania— 

The Worcester Works—New York City—James 
Renwick—Richard Upjohn—Boston Museum 
of Arts—Made in England .... 29 

CHAPTER III 

THE FIRST MANUFACTURERS 

Pelligrini and Castelberry — The Atlanta Com¬ 
pany— Victor H. Kriegshaber — A. Hall 
Works—The Perth Amboy Company—George 
P. Putnam’s History—Produce Exchange — 
Pompeian and Old Gold Work—White Terra 
Cotta—Glazes and Polychromes ... 41 

CHAPTER IV 

THE BOSTON COMPANIES 

The Latin High School — Sanford E. Loring— . 
Boston Fire Brick Works—Harry A. Lewis— 

The Boston Company—George M. Fiske— 
James Taylor ....... 59 


3 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER V 

TERRA COTTA IN NEW YORK 

The City Hall Park 1850—The Old Brick Church— 
World Building—An Old Saying Verified— 
Increased Use of Terra Cotta—Braehm Resi¬ 
dence—Morse Building—Ravenswood Works 
—A. Hall Company—Potter Building—Tower 
Building—Historical Associations—The New 
York Company ...... 74 

CHAPTER VI 

THE BROWN ASSOCIATIONS 

Perth Amboy and New York Offices—William C. 

Hall—First Brown Association—Offices and 
Representatives — Stephens, Armstrong and 
Conkling—Lease of A. Hall Works—Purchase 
of Boston Company—Second Brown Asso¬ 
ciation— Standard Company — White Com¬ 
pany ........ 95 

CHAPTER VII 

THE ROMANCE OF A CONTRACT 

Commodore Vanderbilt—The Old Harlem Station 
—Madison Square Garden—Stanford White— 

Perth Amboy Bricks—Doctor Ruth—A Thea¬ 
tre Party and Supper—F. Hopkinson Smith— 

Hall Takes Notice — Perth Amboy Secures 
Contract—The Last Curtain .... 107 

CHAPTER VIII 

THE MANHATTAN COMPANY 

Staten Island Company—George L. Record— 
Manhattan Material Company—Excelsior 
Company — William H. Powell — Conkling- 
Armstrong Company—New Jersey Company 
—Eckardt V. Eskesen—Atlantic Company— 
Corning Works.121 


4 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER IX PAGE 

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 

Conferences atHall’s Residence—TerraCotta Man¬ 
ufacturers Association—South Amboy Com¬ 
pany—Maryland Company—O. W. Ketcham 
—Atlantic Combination—Federal Company— 
Proposed Publicity Bureau .... 143 


chapter x 

THE CENTRAL COMPANIES 

The Louisville Works—J. N. Glover—Indian¬ 
apolis—Hovey and Nichols—Chicago Com¬ 
pany— Sanford E. Loring—James Taylor— 

True, Brunkhorst and Company—North¬ 
western Company — American Company — 
William D. Gates—Indianapolis Company— 
Winkle — St. Louis — Western — Midland — 
Denver—Kansas City.153 


CHAPTER XI 

TERRA COTTA IN CHICAGO 

Beginnings of a Great Industry—Sanford E. Lor¬ 
ing—James Taylor—John Brunkhorst—Gustav 
Hottinger—Henry Rohkam—John R. True— 

Fritz Wagner—The Northwestern Company . 168 


CHAPTER XII 

THE PACIFIC COMPANIES 

Gladding, McBean and Company—Early Work— 

N. Clark and Sons—Denny-Renton Company 
—Northern Clay Company — Washington 
Company—Los Angeles Works . . . 186 


5 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER XIII 

CERAMIC DEVELOPMENT 

Earliest History—The Spanish Moors—The Nor¬ 
mans—Della Robbia—Palissy—John G. Low— 
Perth Amboy Company—Parkhurst Church— 
American Company—Teco Ware . 

CHAPTER XIV 

ADVANTAGES OF TERRA COTTA 

Plasticity—Durability—Indestructibility—Light¬ 
ness—Economy—Color Effects 

chapter xv 

THE NATIONAL SOCIETY 

Its Origin—First Meeting—Objects—Members— 
Officers—Ceramic Department—Publications 
—Peter C. Olsen—Arthur Rogers . 

CHAPTER XVI 

THE SOCIETY MEMBERS 

Full List of Members—Histories of the Compa¬ 
nies—Present Officers—Prominent Buildings 

CHAPTER XVII 

FORMER MANUFACTURERS 

List of Companies—Their Histories—Officers— 
Buildings—Ultimate Fate .... 

CHAPTER XVIII 

WHO’S WHO IN TERRA COTTA 

Biographical Sketches of Men Now or Formerly 
Prominent in the Business—In Memoriam 


PAGE 


199 


216 


233 


243 


258 


268 


6 




ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 


Portrait of Gustav Hottinger . 

Frontispiece 

Portrait of Victor H. Kriegshaber . 

• • 

41^ 

Portrait of William C. Hall 

t • 

48^ 

Portrait of Edward J. Hall , 


48^ 

Portrait of George M. Fiske . 


49" 

Portrait of George P. Putnam 


49 

View of City Hall Park 1850 . 


80 

Portrait of Walter Geer , 


88 

Portrait of Walter Geer, Junior 


ON 

00 

Portrait of Richard F. Dalton 


89 

Portrait of Thomas F. Armstrong . 


104^' 

Portrait of Ira L. Conkling 


105- 

Portrait of L. B. Eskesen . . , 


105 

View of Madison Square Garden . 

• ) 

113 

Portrait of Karl Mathiasen 


128 

Portrait of Eckardt V. Eskesen 


128 

Portrait of Morris E. Gregory 


129 

Portrait of Peter C. Olsen 


136 

Portrait of Orman W. Ketcham 


137- 

Portrait of William H. Powell 


144 

Portrait of Frank G. Evatt 


145 

Portrait of DeForest Grant 


152^ 

Portrait of Robert F. Grady . 


153 ^ 


7 






ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAGE 

Portrait of George P. Fackt ..... 160 

Portrait of William D. Gates ..... 160 

Portrait of William Timmerman ... . . 161 

Portrait of Paul C. Baltz.161 

Portrait of Adolph F. Hottinger .... 168 

Portrait of Henry Rohkam ..... 168 

Portrait of Sherman Taylor ..... 169 

Portrait of Harry J. Lucas ..... 169 

Portrait of Charles Gladding ..... 186 

Portrait of Peter McGill McBean .... 186 

Portrait of Paul S. MacMichael .... 187 

Portrait of Oswald Speir.187 

Portrait of George D. Clark , 190' 

Portrait of John F. Keenan.191 

View of Madison Square Presbyterian Church . 208 

Portrait of Fritz Wagner.216 

Portrait of Walter E. Dennison .... 217 

Portrait of Joseph Winkle.232 

Portrait of Christian Mathiasen .... 233 

Portrait of William Mathiasen .... 233 

Portrait of Victor Emile Piollet .... 240 


8 






\ 


TO 

THE MEMBERS 
OF THE 

NATIONAL TERRA COTTA SOCIETY 
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED 
BY THEIR ASSOCIATE 

THE DEAN 




NEW YORK CITY 
JANUARY, I92O 


“And so I penned 
It down, until at last it came to be, 

For length and breadth, the bigness 
which you see.” 

Bunyan —Apology for his Book . 



THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

CHAPTER I 

ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL TIMES 

0 tell the story of terra cotta 
through the ages is to narrate 
the history of civilization itself, 
for the authentic records of the 
use of burnt clay as a construc¬ 
tive and decorative material in architecture 
extend back to twenty centuries before the 
Christian era. The fact that in this practically 
imperishable material we have preserved to 
us more completely than in any other, the 
thoughts and works of artists in every age of 
the world, and in every country at any time 
civilized, from a period of almost fabulous 



11 






















THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

antiquity down to the present time, shows the 
immense field for inquiry into the uses and 
advantages of the artistic employment of burnt 
clay. It may seem a somewhat rash assertion, 
that the burnt clay of the ancients is identical 
in substance with the terra cotta of today, but 
such is the fact. Terra cotta is undoubtedly 
the oldest building material known to history, 
other than wood, and was probably employed 
in the making of domestic vessels before build¬ 
ing was known as an art. 

The term by which this material is tech¬ 
nically known, literally “cooked earth,” dates 
from the period of the Italian Renaissance, 
when terra cotta was first largely used for 
architectural purposes. But the material it¬ 
self, both in the form of bricks, and in the 
more elaborate constructive and decorative 
forms, was largely used by the earliest builders. 
The fact that clay when subjected to great 
heat would become a hard brittle substance 
must have been discovered in primitive times 
by the kindling of fires on clayey soil, and the 
utility of this substance for domestic and archi¬ 
tectural purposes have been suggested as the 


12 


ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL TIMES 

result. The fragments from the ruins of the 
most ancient temples and palaces reveal its 
application for these purposes. In fact, terra 
cotta may be said to be prehistoric in its origin, 
for it is in some cases our only link with nations 
of the most remote antiquity. To terra cotta 
we owe nearly all the information we possess 
in regard to the most ancient states and em¬ 
pires; bank notes, deeds of property, private 
transactions, public records, still being found 
in a good state of preservation among the ruins 
of ancient Babylon and other great cities of 
the past. The public records of the Assyrians 
were kept minutely inscribed on cylinders and 
tablets of clay which were afterwards baked. 
These furnish complete materials for trans¬ 
cribing the history of those times. To these 
records, revealed by the researches of Layard, 
Rawlinson and others, we owe much of our 
knowledge of the ancient Assyrians, Chal¬ 
deans, and Egyptians. The historical re¬ 
searches with reference to the Jews have also 
been much assisted by the inscriptions found 
on earthen bowls taken from the ruins of 
Babylon. 


13 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

It seems to us important to dwell somewhat 
on the historical aspect of this subject, before 
considering its modern development and uses, 
as so few seem to be aware that we are not 
dealing with a new substance, but rather with 
the oldest manufactured material to which we 
have historical references. Indeed, it may be 
well said that, so far from history perpetua¬ 
ting the records of terra cotta, terra cotta has 
perpetuated the records of history. 

Sun-dried and baked clay was employed by 
nearly all the great nations of antiquity in 
their earlier works. The granaries and store¬ 
houses of Egypt, the vast mounds of Nineveh 
and Babylon, the aqueducts and other remains 
of Roman times, testify how wide-spread was 
its use. Nor was it used merely as a building 
material. The clay cylinders of Nineveh have 
been the means of treasuring up the documen¬ 
tary records of a monarchy, of which other 
direct records have almost wholly perished; 
while our museums are full of wonderful evi¬ 
dences, in their collections of Etruscan vases, 
of the beautiful art, the refined taste, and the 
poetic imagination of this mysterious people, 


14 


ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL TIMES 

whose very history is lost and whose race and 
era are disputed questions. 

All nations whose early history is known to 
us, Assyrians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, 
Gauls, have left us records of their thoughts on 
terra cotta. The invention of the art of work¬ 
ing in terra cotta was claimed by the Corinth¬ 
ians, who are said to have exhibited in their 
city specimens of the first efforts in it from 
the hand of the celebrated potter Dibutades. 
In order to preserve the likeness of his daugh¬ 
ter’s lover, he moulded in terra cotta the 
shadow of his profile on the wall, and this pro¬ 
duction is said by Pliny to have been in exist¬ 
ence when the city was stormed by Mummius. 
The invention was also claimed by the Sa¬ 
mians, who maintained that Rhoecus and 
Theodorus, who were sculptors in bronze, and 
who flourished about 657 B. C., had first prac¬ 
ticed the art of modelling. As the early sculp¬ 
tors cast their bronzes solid, like the Egyptians, 
who are supposed to have been the fathers of 
the art, it is evident that modelling in clay 
must have preceded working in bronze. 

The Egyptians made small figures of terra 


15 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

cotta covered with inscriptions. Referring to 
these portrait statues recently discovered in 
the secret recesses of the .tombs around the 
bases of the Pyramids, Fergusson says: “Noth¬ 
ing more wonderfully truthful and realistic 
has been done since that time, till the invention 
of photography; and even that can hardly rep¬ 
resent a man with such unflattering truthful¬ 
ness as these old colored terra cotta portraits 
of the sleek rich men of the Pyramid period.” 

By the ancient Greeks and Romans, terra 
cotta was employed for an immense variety 
of purposes, from the commonest objects of 
everyday use to the most elaborate and am¬ 
bitious works of art, such as colossal statues 
and groups. 

Pausanias mentions having seen at Athens 
two remarkable terra cotta groups, represent¬ 
ing Theseus killing the robber Sciron, and 
Heos (Aurora) carrying off Kephalos. The 
celebrated painter Zeuxis was accustomed to 
model in terra cotta the subjects which he 
afterwards painted, and many of the artists 
of the later schools combined the plastic art 
with that of painting. The immense number 


16 


ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL TIMES 


of terra cotta objects at Athens is alluded to 
by Demosthenes in his first Phillipic. 

The ancient Greeks and Romans seem to 
have appreciated the fact that stonework, as 
well as wood, needed protection from the 
weather, as is shown by the common practice 
of nailing slabs of terra cotta over the surface 
of both these materials. Many examples of 
this fashion can be found in Sicily and south¬ 
ern Italy. They occur at Olympia in the Treas¬ 
ury of Gela, and also in a temple at Selinus. 
The best example of this practice can be seen 
in the temple at Civita Lavinia, the remains of 
which belong to the sixth and the fourth cen¬ 
turies B. C. 

As in other branches of art, the Romans 
closely copied the Greeks in their wide employ¬ 
ment of terra cotta for statues, reliefs, and 
architectural ornaments. A large number of 
beautiful Graeco-Roman reliefs exist, many 
having designs evidently copied from earlier 
Greek sculpture. Berlin, the Louvre, the Brit¬ 
ish Museum, and many places in Italy, possess 
fine collections. Friezes, with beautiful re¬ 
liefs, twelve to eighteen inches deep, often 


17 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


occur, little inferior in execution to the earlier 
Greek work. These terra cottas belong to the 
early period of the Empire. At the end of the 
first and in the earlier part of the second cen¬ 
tury, A. D., the use of terra cotta for architect¬ 
ural adornment was carried to a high point 
of perfection in Rome. Many buildings of the 
period have the most elaborate decoration, 
moulded in clay and fitted together with won¬ 
derful neatness. Not only enriched cornices 
and friezes were made of terra cotta, but even 
Corinthian columns, with their elaborate 
acanthus capitals. The best existing examples 
in Rome are the Amphitheatium Castrense, 
many tombs on the Via Latina, and the bar¬ 
racks of the Vllth Cohort of the Guards in the 
Trastevere. 

The Romans also largely employed terra 
cotta in mural decoration, both for the interior 
and exterior of their buildings, in the form of 
slabs, ornamented with reliefs, hung on the 
walls or around the cornices. That these re¬ 
liefs were pressed in moulds, similar to the 
modem practice, is shown by the frequent 
repetition of certain subjects with only slight 


18 


ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL TIMES 

differences, evidently due to retouching before 
baking, hence the variations. Reliefs entirely 
modelled are much rarer, but some exist of 
considerable artistic feeling and freedom. Cir¬ 
cular holes are left in the slabs for the plugs by 
which they were attached in their places. 
These terra cottas range in color from a light 
buff to a dark red. 

It would require too much space to enum¬ 
erate all the various forms and subjects repre¬ 
sented in terra- cotta by the ancients. Some of 
the extensive uses to which it was put are thus 
summarized by Mr. Birch: “It supplied the 
most important parts both of public and pri¬ 
vate buildings, as the brick, roof-tiles, im¬ 
brices, drain-tiles, columns, and other archi¬ 
tectural members. It also served for pave¬ 
ments, and for the construction or lining of 
cisterns and aqueducts. Among its adapta¬ 
tions to religious purposes may be noticed the 
statues of the gods which stood in the temples, 
besides copies of them on a reduced scale, and 
an immense number of small votive figures. 
It also supplied the more trivial wants of every¬ 
day life, and served to make studs for the 


19 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

dress, bases for spindles, tickets for the amphi¬ 
theatres, and prizes for victors in the games. 
Of it were made the vats or casks in which 
wine was made, preserved or exported, the 
pitchers in which it was served, and the cup 
out of which it was drunk, as well as all the 
various culinary and domestic utensils for 
which earthenware is used in modern times. 
It furnished the material for many small orna¬ 
ments, especially figures, which are often of 
a comic nature, and supplied the undertaker 
with bas-reliefs, vases, imitative jewelry, and 
the other furniture of the tomb.” 

The terra cotta industry extended from 
Rome to the provinces, and examples of local 
make have been found even in Britain, as at 
Colchester and London. In Gaul, in partic¬ 
ular, and in the Rhine district, there were very 
extensive manufactures of terra cotta after 
the conquest by Julius Caesar in 58 B. C. The 
principal centre of manufacture was the dis¬ 
trict of Allier in Central France, but the indus¬ 
try was carried on in Alsace and Belgium and 
along the Rhine. 

After the downfall of the Roman Empire 


20 


ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL TIMES 

in the West, the artistic use of terra cotta was 
abandoned for many centuries, though here 
and there both in Italy and in parts of France 
and Germany the manufacture was continued. 


The Middle Ages 

The true renaissance of the use of terra 
cotta came during the 14th and 15th centuries, 
when it was adapted in various parts of Eu¬ 
rope to the most magnificent and elaborate 
architectural purposes. In northern Italy this 
use of terra cotta was carried to a very high 
point of perfection. The western facade of 
the Cathedral of Monza is a work of the most 
wonderful richness and minute elaboration, 
wholly executed in clay in the latter part of 
the 14th century. The Cathedral of Crema, 
the communal buildings of Piacenza, and S. 
Maria delle Grazie in Milan, are striking ex¬ 
amples of the extreme splendor of effect that 
can be obtained by terra cotta work. The 
Certosa, near Pavia, is a gorgeous specimen 
of the early work of the 16th century: the two 


21 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


cloisters are especially magnificent. Pavia 
itself is very rich in terra cotta decoration, 
notably the ducal palace and the churches of 
S. Francesco and S. Maria del Carmine. Some 
delicate work also exists among the medieval 
buildings of Rome, dating from the 14th and 
16th centuries, as for example the rich cor¬ 
nices on the south aisle of S. Maria in Ara 
Coeli (1300); the front of S. Cosimato in 
Trastevere built 1490; and a once very magni¬ 
ficent house, near the Via di Tordinone, which 
dates from the 14th century. 

To this period belong the products of that 
most famous of all workers in clay, Luca della 
Robbia. No sculptured work of the great 15th 
century ever surpassed the Singing Gallery 
made by him for the Cathedral of Florence, 
somewhere between 1430 and 1440. The 
works of Luca della Robbia, while not strictly 
terra cottas, in the modern acceptation of the 
term, are among the most valuable examples 
of the use of burned clay in architectural deco¬ 
ration. From the time of Luca della Robbia, 
ceramic ornaments invariably entered into de¬ 
signs for buildings. It was then that the art 


22 


ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL TIMES 

of terra cotta most flourished in Italy; and it 
is from the productions of this period that 
much of the inspiration of modern designs 
has been drawn, especially in those structures 
erected prior to the middle of the last century. 

West of the Alps, clay was not so much used 
for building or decorative purposes. Never¬ 
theless, in the south of France, in Toulouse, 
remarkable examples exist. On the Rhone, 
carved tiles are to be found in very elaborate 
cornices and balustrades. In the north of Ger¬ 
many, in Brandenburg, Luneburg, Hanover, 
and the provinces on the Baltic, brick and 
ornamental terra cotta were largely used in 
preference to stone, not only for exterior work, 
but also for the interior of churches, halls, and 
private dwellings, even the lofty piers of the 
cathedrals being moulded in clay. 

The mark of Brandenburg is especially rich 
in terra cotta work. The Church of St. Cath¬ 
erine, in the city of Brandenburg, is decorated 
in the most lavish way with delicate tracery 
and elaborate string courses, and cornices en¬ 
riched with foliage, all modelled in clay. The 
Town Hall is another instance of the same use 


23 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

of terra cotta. At Tangermiinde, the Church 
of St. Stephen and other buildings of the be¬ 
ginning of the 15th century are wonderful 
examples of this method of decoration: the 
north door of St. Stephen's especially is a mas¬ 
terpiece of rich and effective moulding. 

From these two centres the development of 
architectural terra cotta gradually spread over 
western Europe. The German school in¬ 
fluenced the work done in the Low Countries 
and finally in England, where it also met the 
direct influence of the Italian School due to 
the invasion of England by Italian artists who 
were invited there during the reigns of Henry 
VII and Henry VIII. Examples of the terra 
cotta work of this period are found only in the 
eastern and southern counties, and it is prob¬ 
able that much of this work was imported from 
Holland or Flanders, as it is distinctly Dutch 
in style. Essex possesses the finest examples, 
such as those to be found in the Manor House 
at Layer Marney and a richly decorated terra 
cotta tomb in the church at the same place, 
both dating from the reign of Henry VIII. 

The introduction of the Tudor style gave 


24 


ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL TIMES 


an impetus to the use of brick, moulded brick 
and terra cotta, and during the 16th century 
many large mansions were erected in Eng¬ 
land of brick, having moulded brick cornices 
and terra cotta trimmings. It is said that Hol¬ 
bein promoted the use of moulded brick and 
terra cotta, towards the end of the Tudor 
period. The friezes, cornices, and other high¬ 
ly ornamental work in terra cotta, of the 
Manor House at East Barsham, and the Par¬ 
sonage House at Great Snoring, both in Nor¬ 
folk, erected during the reign of Henry VIII, 
are worthy of particular notice, and the use of 
terra cotta for decorative panels and bas- 
reliefs appears to have been popular during 
this time. The gateway of York Palace, White¬ 
hall, designed by Holbein, was decorated with 
four circular terra cotta panels, which are still 
preserved. 

The unsettlement which followed the Ref¬ 
ormation in England, and which continued 
during the Stuart period, seems to have put 
an end to this imported art, and it is not until 
modern times that we find a revival of archi¬ 
tectural terra cotta in England. 


25 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


Another offshoot from the fertile plains of 
northern Italy was implanted in France during 
the 16th century. Many Italian artists were 
attracted to France by Francis I and his suc¬ 
cessors, and among other arts they introduced 
the making of architectural terra cotta. The 
most famous name in the list of these Italian 
artists is that of Girolamo della Robbia, of the 
famous family of that name, who executed for 
Francis I, at Paris, in 1529, the enamelled 
terra cotta for the decoration of the “Petit 
Chateau de Madrid” in the Bois de Boulogne. 
This last and most extensive work in terra 
cotta executed by the Robbia family was de¬ 
stroyed in 1792 during the French Revolution, 
but exact drawings showing all the details are 
still in existence. 

During the 17th and 18th centuries there 
was a revival of the art in England, and many 
choice works were executed in terra cotta. In 
many parts of London, mouldings and cornices 
of this date can still be found. 

About the middle of the 18th century 
Josiah Wedgwood began his career in the 
making of terra cotta vases and other wares. 


26 


ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL TIMES 


About 1790, works were established at Lam¬ 
beth, near London, by a lady of the name of 
Coade, for making terra cotta and architec¬ 
tural details, statues and vases. These works 
were in existence until about seventy years 
ago, when they were closed. Many of the 
leading sculptors who ranked high in the pro¬ 
fession in the earlier days of the last century 
were employed at Coade’s, and the durability 
of its productions can be attested by numer¬ 
ous examples. The capitals and other work 
in the oldest part of Buckingham Palace were 
made there, and although the stone work of 
the palace on all sides shows great signs of 
decay, the terra cotta Corinthian capitals are 
as sharp as when they left the kiln. 

Early in the last century other manufac¬ 
turers began to establish themselves in compe¬ 
tition with Coade’s. One of the most impor¬ 
tant of these was the plant of John M. Blash- 
field, established in 1839 at Canford in Dor¬ 
setshire. In 1848, he moved his works to Mil- 
wall near London. Ten years later, in 1858, 
under the patronage of the Marquis of Exeter, 
he moved his plant to Stamford in Lincoln- 


27 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

shire in order to develop clay deposits in that 
location belonging to the Marquis. 

Among the best modern examples of the 
extensive use of terra cotta, may be mentioned 
the South Kensington Museum, from designs 
by Gilbert Scott, architect, the Dulwich Col¬ 
lege, by Charles Barry, and the great Albert 
Hall, by Gilbert Redgrave—all admirable ex¬ 
amples of the attractive effect produced by the 
judicious blending of brick and terra cotta in 
architecture. 



28 



CHAPTER II 


THE UNITED STATES 



NE of the oldest terra cotta build¬ 
ings in this country, of which 
there is any authentic record, is 
a church located on the north¬ 
east corner of 6th and State 
Streets in Columbus, Ohio. The attention 
of Samuel B. Orth was called to this build¬ 
ing in July, 1919, by Harry C. Holbrook, 
an architect of Columbus. The church is 
trimmed with brown-stone colored terra cotta 
which was shipped from England in a wooden 
sailing vessel about seventy years ago. The 
terra cotta is still in excellent condition. Mr. 
Holbrook said that most people thought it was 
cast iron, and that he himself thought so until 


29 







the story of terra cotta 

recently, when he examined it more carefully. 
He asked Orth to make a special effort to see 
this church, which he did, and found it to be 
a rough stone building with very well pre¬ 
served terra cotta trimmings. Orth writes: 

“The lengths of the pieces, compared with 
their widths, are in excess of those which we 
are making these days. Some of the label 
mouldings which are only six or seven inches 
in width are approximately 2 feet 6 inches 
long, with about the same bond, and the jambs 
are exceptionally long for the width and as 
straight as a die. The lower portion, which 
could be reached with an ordinary ladder, has 
been painted, but that above let go. The style 
is Anglo-Norman, with round and square bil¬ 
let mouldings, and some dog-tooth, with orna¬ 
mental columns, including cap, shaft and base. 
Characteristic to the style, there are also gro¬ 
tesque corbels and very heavy plain set-offs to 
butresses.” 

Flat terra cotta roofing tiles were made to 
a considerable extent in certain parts of this 
country, particularly in the German settle¬ 
ments of Eastern Pennsylvania, as early as the 
18th century, and were commonly used on 
smith-shops and out-buildings, but rarely on 

30 


THE UNITED STATES 

dwellings. The art was brought from Ger¬ 
many, where the same methods of manufac¬ 
ture are, to some extent, still practiced. 

At Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, the Moravians 
made similar tiles from 1740, or earlier, until 
well into the last century. At many small pot¬ 
teries in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 
terra cotta roofing tiles have been made for up¬ 
wards of a hundred and fifty years, and on an 
old smithy near the village of Bird-in-hand 
one of the tiles which covered the roof bears 
the date “1769,” which covers the entire sur¬ 
face, having been traced in the moist clay by 
the finger of the workman. Such tiles have 
been found in the debris of an old smith-shop, 
which was built in 1709, at Cope’s Bridge, on 
the Brandywine, near West Chester, Pennsyl¬ 
vania, which, while probably made by an Eng¬ 
lish Quaker, are of the usual German form. 
Throughout the greater portion of Eastern 
Pennsylvania the flat tile is found. 

About the year 1840 an attempt was made 
to produce architectural terra cotta at Wor¬ 
cester, Massachusetts. The clay used was of 


31 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

a buff color, and the work was well burned. 
The terra cotta, however, did not go on its own 
merits as a material but had its surface covered 
with paint, and passed for stone or iron, as 
might suit the fancy or caprice of the pur¬ 
chaser. 

Many good specimens of the terra cotta 
made at this time can still be seen in the larger 
cities of Massachusetts and the adjacent New 
England States. For example, the columns of 
the State Capitol at Boston have capitals of 
terra cotta made at the Worcester Works, and 
the windows of Pine Street Church are also 
decorated with the same material. Several 
residences also have terra cotta lintels, and 
pediments over the entrances and windows, 
made of terra cotta of about that period, but 
all the work is painted and sanded to imitate 
brown-stone and would hardly be taken for 
terra cotta by the casual passer-by. 

There is no record of the manufacture of 
architectural terra cotta in New York until the 
year 1853, when an attempt was made to intro¬ 
duce it by James Renwick, the well-known 


32 


THE UNITED STATES 


architect of Grace Church and St. Patrick’s 
Cathedral, New York City. 

Mr. Renwick was the son of James Ren- 
wick, a distinguished professor of chemistry 
at Columbia College, whose mother, Jean Jef¬ 
frey, of Lochmaben, a famous Scottish beauty, 
was the “Blue-Eyed Lassie” of Robert Burns’s 
poem: 

“ ’Twas not her golden ringlets bright, 

Her lips like roses wat wi’ dew, 

Her heaving bosom lily-white: 

It was her een sae bonie blue.” 

The Renwick family, early in the last cen¬ 
tury, lived at the corner of Cortlandt Street 
and Broadway, but later moved to the suburb 
of Bloomingdale, now a part of the city, where 
James Renwick was born in 1818. 

In sketching the history of this first attempt 
to use terra cotta in New York, Mr. Renwick 
wrote Mr. Orlando B. Potter in 1886, as fol¬ 
lows: 

“In 1853,1 conceived the idea of introducing 
terra cotta as a building material and substi¬ 
tute for cut stone work in New York. I went 
to a Mr. Young, who had a factory for making 


33 


/ 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

glazed and other earthen sewer pipe, in 40th 
Street, and told him what I proposed doing, 
and asked him if he would manufacture it from 
my designs and under my supervision. I sup¬ 
posed it would be a source of large profits to 
him, as it would be more durable and orna¬ 
mental, and less expensive, than the freestones 
which were then in use. I made a contract 
with him for the belt courses and the cornice 
of the Tontine Building, and for the ornamen¬ 
tal work of the St. Denis Hotel, at 11th Street 
and Broadway, and for three houses in 9th 
Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. All 
these buildings are now standing, and the 
terra cotta is as good as when first put up. We 
tried to introduce it into general use, but were 
violently opposed by the stone cutters and 
builders who said that it would not stand and 
persuaded owners not to use it. 

“The only other building it was used in, so 
far as I know, was in the court of the La Farge 
House. This building was destroyed 8 Janu¬ 
ary, 1854, by a fire which originated in Tripler 
Hall, which was in the rear and part of the 
hotel. These two buildings were on the west 
side of Broadway nearly opposite Bond Street. 
Tripler Hall was built in 1850 for the Ameri¬ 
can debut of Jenny Lind, but as it was not 


34 


THE UNITED STATES 


finished in time she made her first appearance 
in September of that year at Castle Garden. 
It was the scene, however, of the debut of a 
still more famous artiste, Adelina Patti, 22 
September, 1853, who was then a child of ten 
years. The Broadway Central Hotel, origin¬ 
ally named the Grand Central, was erected on 
the site of the La Farge House, and in its day 
was considered one of the finest hotel struc¬ 
tures in the country. It was the scene of the 
shooting of Jim Fisk by Ned Stokes in 1872. 

“Mr. Young, finding it impossible to intro¬ 
duce terra cotta, and having lost money in the 
attempt, gave up the manufacture and returned 
to making pipe. The fact is, we were ahead 
of the times, and could find no one who under¬ 
stood or would venture to use it. The build¬ 
ings above mentioned, in which it was used, 
belonged either to my family or friends who 
had confidence in my judgment. About eight 
or ten years after this, Mr. Greenough, the 
sculptor, came from Rome to New York for 
the express purpose of introducing the use of 
terra cotta. I happened to dine with him, and 
he broached the subject. The next morning 
I took him to see the work on the St. Denis 
Hotel, and related my experience, and he gave 


35 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


up the idea, being afraid of meeting the same 
difficulty I had experienced.” 

Another New York architect who did much 
toward introducing terra cotta work in the 
buildings which he designed, was the senior 
Richard Upjohn, father of the Richard Up¬ 
john whose beautiful designs can be seen in 
the State Capitol at Hartford, Connecticut. 
When in the year 1852 he prepared the plans 
for the Trinity Building, situated on Broad¬ 
way, just north of Trinity Church yard, he 
determined to use terra cotta and brick. The 
bricks were of a buff color and the terra cotta 
was painted to represent brown-stone. This 
building, at that date, was an important one, 
and for many years it held its own among the 
many imposing edifices erected in the city. 
The tiger-head keystones were modelled by 
W. K. Brown, sculptor. The work was made 
and burned at a drain pipe factory on 17th 
Street near the North River. The work was 
still perfect in every particular, when the 
building was razed some years ago, although 
it had been found necessary to reface the 
brown-stone work of which the first story was 


36 


THE UNITED STATES 

constructed, the stone having frittered away 
in many places. 

Mr. Upjohn also used terra cotta for the 
cornice of the Corn Exchange Bank Building, 
corner of William and Beaver Streets. This 
work, however, was not a success, as it was 
destroyed by frost the first winter after it was 
set in place. This terra cotta was made by 
Winter and Company of Newark, New Jersey. 
Mr. Upjohn afterwards said that the order was 
given to them because they offered to do it 
for less money than the manufacturers of the 
work for the Trinity Building. 

After these first attempts to introduce archi¬ 
tectural terra cotta in New York, there fol¬ 
lowed a period of nearly a quarter of a cen¬ 
tury, during which the manufacture and use 
of this material, so far as New York was con¬ 
cerned, was practically discontinued. 

In the year 1872, when Sturgis and Brig¬ 
ham of Boston were commissioned to prepare 
plans for the Boston Museum of Arts, they 
were so convinced of the advantages of terra 
cotta that they determined to use the material 


37 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

for the exterior decorations. They were not 
allowed, however, to use terra cotta without 
very strong opposition on the part of persons 
who had formed unfavorable opinions of the 
material. But if the architects met with oppo¬ 
sition in some quarters, they had very satis¬ 
factory support in others. In his work on 
“Art Education,” Walter Smith writes with 
reference to the Boston Museum of Arts: 

“If a building were erected here in America 
containing brick as a basis, moulded brick for 
mouldings, terra cotta for its sculptured en¬ 
richments, and encaustic tiles to give bands of 
color, we should see a structure entirely com¬ 
posed of burnt earth, indestructible and un¬ 
changeable either by climatic or other in¬ 
fluences. 

“In September, 1871, I examined the terra 
cotta enrichments on the Kensington Museum 
in London, after they had been exposed for 
several years, and they were as fresh as on the 
day of their erection; whilst stone work that 
had only been up the same period of time was 
as black as soot. The clear atmosphere of this 
country does not call so loudly for cleanly 
decorations of buildings as Manchester and 


38 


THE UNITED STATES 


London in the old country; yet here as there 
they would be pleasing. 

“You may reduce all the pictures of the Mu¬ 
seum to tinder; melt all the bronze statues 
until they run in the gutters; calcine the mar¬ 
ble statues into plaster of Paris; burn all the 
building into lime, and all the animal and 
vegetable creations into ashes; and all this 
while terra cotta will glow red hot and remain 
uninjured, and cool down again into the shape 
we fashioned it. It is the noblest of all vehicles 
for the expression of art.” 

Mr. Smith, who was very highly considered 
by the art patrons of Boston, had much in¬ 
fluence in directing the art education of that 
period, and his glowing eulogy of terra-cotta 
had much to do with deciding the Trustees to 
employ burnt clay as the material for erecting 
their splendid edifice “for exhibiting and pre¬ 
serving specimens of ancient and modern art 
by native and foreign artists.” 

The final decision of the Trustees in regard 
to the matter was not made, however, until 
after they had sent Mr. Sturgis to England in 
order that he might more fully investigate the 
subject. There he consulted Mr. Brimmer, the 


39 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

wealthy patron of art and artists, and also Mr. 
Greenough, the sculptor, who were both in 
Europe at that time. The numerous buildings 
of the two principal manufacturers of terra 
cotta in England at that date, Blashfield, of 
Stamford, and Gibbs and Canning, of Tam- 
worth, were carefully examined and reported 
upon. The contract for making the terra 
cotta was finally given to the former, because, 
although Gibbs and Canning had furnished 
the decorations for the great Albert Hall, and 
had also built other notable structures, Blash- 
field’s work, on the whole, was found more 
satisfactory. 



40 























. 
















CHAPTER III 

THE FIRST MANUFACTURERS 

T is rather a remarkable fact that 
the two pioneer manufacturers 
of architectural terra cotta in 
the United States were both lo¬ 
cated south of the Mason and 

% 

Dixon Line, and that they both began opera¬ 
tions within seven years of the end of the 
Civil War. The first plant was located at 
Louisville, Kentucky, and was the forerunner 
of the great Northwestern Company of today. 
This will be described more in detail when 
we come to the Central Companies. The sec¬ 
ond plant was established a few years later 
at Atlanta, Georgia, and was the predecessor 
of the present Atlanta Company. 



41 










THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

Atlanta has therefore the double distinction 
of being the only city in the South with a terra 
cotta plant, and of being the home of one of 
the two pioneer manufacturers in America. 


The Atlanta Company 

The story of architectural terra cotta in the 
South is admirably told in the following sketch 
by Victor H. Kriegshaber, the former Presi¬ 
dent of the Atlanta Company: 

“From reliable sources, I learn that about 
1872, P. Pelligrini, and another Italian named 
Georgi, began operating a small plant for the 
manufacture of flower pots, chimney tops and 
architectural terra cotta, as it was then known. 

“In 1875, Jack Castelberry bought an inter¬ 
est in the plant, and he states that until about 
1885 the terra cotta that was made was of the 
kind that hung on the outside walls of the 
building. It consisted principally of door and 
window caps. The method of construction 
was simple in the extreme. Heavy iron hooks 
were driven into the mortar joints of the brick 
work, where these door and window caps were 
to be hung. The caps themselves were never 
burned very hard, and the hollow spaces were 


42 


THE FIRST MANUFACTURERS 


filled with mortar, and then pressed up against 
the face of the wall—the iron hooks penetrat¬ 
ing the soft mortar that filled the spaces in the 
terra cotta. The pieces were supported until 
the mortar had time to harden. Props were 
then removed, and the operation was finished, 
with the exception, generally, of painting the 
terra cotta, as it was not sufficiently hard 
burned to stand the weather. 

“Somewhere around 1885, they found out 
that terra cotta was being made with sufficient 
bond to build into the wall, thus obviating the 
method of fastening, referred to above. From 
that date on, the development of the industry 
was rapid. 

“It was not long after that time that the City 
Building Department secured the passage of 
an ordinance requiring owners to remove the 
outside hung terra *cotta caps that were in ex¬ 
istence in the city. This was made necessary 
by the fact that at frequent intervals, pieces 
of the terra cotta would drop out of place, to 
the risk of people who might be passing along 
the sidewalks. 

“The first terra cotta plant at Atlanta was 
known as the Southern Terra Cotta Company, 
and to Mr. Pelligrini, an Italian, should be 
accorded whatever credit and honor there may 


43 



THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


be in building and maintaining such a plant 
there, under very adverse circumstances. 

“This company got along only fairly well. 
Their terra cotta was not hard burned, and the 
kilns were so built that a large percentage of 
the ware did not come out even in color. The 
paint pot was only too frequently resorted to, 
to correct what the kiln burning failed to pro¬ 
duce. 

“When hard times came along, the plant 
shut down, and about 1893, seven of the best 
mechanics of this plant started a little terra 
cotta works of their own, which later on 
became the Atlanta Terra Cotta Company. 
Among these men were a modeller, a drafts¬ 
man, pressers, and plaster mould makers. 
They could build a kiln or a shop, and operate 
both. They had no business ability, and as 
soon as their limited funds were exhausted, 
they were at the end of their rope. Five of 
them disposed of their interests to the writer 
of this article, who in 1895 secured a charter 
and organized the Atlanta Terra Cotta Com¬ 
pany with the magnificent capital of $1,500, 
represented by one little six-foot kiln, a rented 
residence which was converted into a shop, 
and a few odds and ends of tools and mate¬ 
rials. 


\ 


44 


THE FIRST MANUFACTURERS 

“The organization, in addition to the writer, 
consisted of Charles Baertschy, who was the 
draftsman, modeller, estimator and general 
handy-man around the plant, and A. Salms, 
who had charge of the pressing, mould-making 
and burning, and who was a most thorough 
hard-working man. 

“When I look back in retrospect and recol¬ 
lect the difficulties that we had to overcome in 
manufacturing, and in financing the proposi¬ 
tion, it is a wonder to me that we ever survived 
the ordeal. Only the hardest kind of work, 
and the loyal service of all those connected 
with the company made it possible to pull 
through. 

“After a few years at the original location, 
the company increased its capital stock to 
$25,000, and we then purchased about twenty 
acres of land on the West Point Road, eight 
miles from Atlanta, and built a shop, kilns, 
siding, etc., and branched out on a larger 
scale. 

“We were covering the southeastern terri¬ 
tory very well, but we were not developing and 
improving the character of the material that 
we were turning out, in a measure that satis¬ 
fied me. It seemed almost impossible at that 
time to secure technical assistance sufficiently 


45 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


skilled in the industry. When the opportunity 
came to us to enter the Atlantic Terra Cotta 
Company, I recommended that this should be 
done, and the merger was arranged. Since 
then the plant has been enlarged, and devel¬ 
oped to a very high degree. The quality of 
the terra cotta turned out has steadily im¬ 
proved, so that today I believe that this plant 
can turn out as good terra cotta as any in the 
country. It is being run successfully under the 
able management of W. C. Hall, Vice-Presi¬ 
dent, and D. H. Hurlburt, Secretary and Treas¬ 
urer. The field of operation is limited to the 
Southern states, extending from the Atlantic 
seaboard to Texas.” 


The Perth Amboy Company 

In 1875, there was located at Perth Amboy, 
New Jersey, an old plant known as the A. Hall 
and Sons Fire Brick Works. That year Wil¬ 
liam C. Hall, a grandson of Alfred Hall, grad¬ 
uated from the Sheffield Scientific School at 
Yale and began work there. In connection 
with the works there was a Yellow and Rock¬ 
ingham Ware Pottery owned by the same pro¬ 
prietors. This pottery had two kilns and was 


46 


THE FIRST MANUFACTURERS 

superintended by a Mr. Woods, but the trade 
had so far fallen off that work was with diffi¬ 
culty provided for the employes, many of 
whom were on short time, with considerable 
arrears of wages due them. William C. Hall 
suggested to his grandfather, Alfred Hall, the 
senior partner, that it might prove profitable 
to change this Yellow Ware Pottery into an 
architectural terra cotta works, which could 
be done at a small outlay, and thus furnish a 
more lucrative business for his works and em¬ 
ployes. Alfred Hall thought well of the idea 
and called upon James Taylor, who was at 
that time connected with the Eagleswood Art 
Pottery, to advise with him as to the probable 
cost and the most available methods for mak¬ 
ing the change. The advice given him led to 
the Yellow Ware business being closed. The 
kilns were made into muffled kilns and the 
works advertised as the A. Hall and Sons 
Terra Cotta Works. 

The new firm wished to engage James Tay¬ 
lor as superintendent of their works but he 
declined the position, and recommended that 
they employ his brother Robert W. Taylor who 


47 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

had been with him for several years and who 
at that time was working for the Eagleswood 
works. 

This advice they also followed, and about 
the month of June, 1877, Robert W. Taylor 
became the foreman of the works and at once 

V 

began to reconstruct the plant in order to fit 
it for the production of architectural terra- 
cotta. 

The business for the first few months was 
very small, consisting mainly of decorative 
tiles, panels and cresting. Soon the business 
developed to such an extent that 1 June 1879, 
v the Perth Amboy Terra Cotta Company was 
organized with the following officers: Alfred 
Hall, President; Eber H. Hall, Vice-President; 
Edward M. Cook, Treasurer, and William C. 
Hall, General Sales Agent. 

During the course of the following year 
there arose a serious difference of opinion as 
to the ways and means of financing the com¬ 
pany, and this finally led to the withdrawal 
of Alfred Hall and his son Eber H. Hall. In 
January, 1881, their stock was purchased by 
Edward J. Hall, a brother of William C. Hall, 


48 









THE FIRST MANUFACTURERS 

and Mr. Cook was made President, as well as 
Treasurer. 

Mr. Cook proved a very energetic man of 
business, and gave a great impetus to the re¬ 
organized works. It was under his manage¬ 
ment, at the suggestion of James Taylor, 
that Joseph Joiner, of Leicester, England, a 
nephew of John M. Blashfield, was engaged to 
become the Superintendent of the works, the 
place previously filled by Robert Taylor. Mr. 
Joiner, who was later one of the firm of Stilz 
and Joiner, of Brightwood, Indiana, came to 
America, and at once entirely remodelled the 
Perth Amboy works. He did this according 
to his own ideas of efficiency, and he certainly 
made the plant the most extensive in the coun¬ 
try, at that time, enabling the Perth Amboy 
Company to turn out within the contract time 
the largest order of terra cotta made in Amer¬ 
ica for one building, prior to the present 
century. 

The following October, when the large con¬ 
tract for the Produce Exchange was in pros¬ 
pect, an increase in the capital stock was found 
necessary, and certain complications arose in 


49 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


this connection which resulted in Mr. Cook’s 
resignation. The following officers were then 
elected, who remained in charge of the organ¬ 
ization until it entered the Atlantic combina¬ 
tion in 1907, namely: Edward J. Hall, Presi¬ 
dent; William C. Hall, Vice-President and 
General Manager, and George P. Putnam, 
Treasurer. It was largely a family concern, 
Putnam being a brother-in-law of the Halls. 

Shortly after the organization of the Perth 
Amboy Company, it secured its first important 
contract, the building for the Brooklyn His¬ 
torical Society, George B. Post, architect. This 
building, being the first of note near New York 
in which terra cotta was used, attracted con¬ 
siderable attention, and induced the architect 
of the Pennsylvania Railroad to use the mate¬ 
rial in the first Broad Street Station, Philadel¬ 
phia. This contract was given out in Decem¬ 
ber, 1880. 

The following interesting history of the 
Perth Amboy Company is from the pen of 
George P. Putnam: 

“In the Summer of 1881, George B. Post 


50 


THE FIRST MANUFACTURERS 

1 

having been selected as architect of the Prod¬ 
uce Exchange Building, advocated to the 
building committee the use of red terra cotta. 
A special car was engaged, and Mr. Post and 
the committee taken to the plant, not only to 
inspect terra cotta in the making, but to decide 
if the plant could be adapted to the manufac¬ 
ture of so large a contract in the required time. 

“Those were the days of small things. I 
have sometimes wondered how the committee 
consented to award the Perth Amboy Com¬ 
pany so large a contract, considering the small 
size and chaotic condition of the plant; but the 
successful completion of the contracts for the 
Historical Society and the Broad Street Sta¬ 
tion decided in the Company’s favor, to say 
nothing of William C. Hall’s representation 
of the Company’s ability to carry out any con¬ 
tracts it might enter into. The contract, a 
little over two thousand tons, was awarded in 
January, 1882. It was necessary to rapidly 
erect additional buildings and kilns, engage 
draftsmen, modellers, model makers and 
pressers. There were not sufficient terra cotta 
men in the country at the time, so as the con¬ 
tract labor law was not then in force, men in 
all these departments were induced to come 
from England; otherwise it would have been 


51 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

impossible to have completed the contract in 
accordance with its terms, even if it could have 
been made at all. 

“For the first two years of the Perth Amboy 
Company’s existence it was thought that only 
red clay from Baltimore, used to make the 
Baltimore pressed brick, was suitable for terra 
cotta, but before the Produce Exchange was 
made, it was found that the red clay in the 
vicinity of Perth Amboy was equally, if not 
better, adapted. 

“Until sometime in 1882 the only terra cotta 
produced in the East was red, the use of Phila¬ 
delphia and Baltimore red pressed brick being 
almost universal. During that year Mr. Post 
awarded the Perth Amboy Company the con¬ 
tract for the terra cotta in the Post Building, 
Exchange Place and Hanover Street. As buff 
brick were to be used, he desired a buff terra 
cotta to go with it. There was some specula¬ 
tion as to whether it could be made success¬ 
fully, but after several experiments, it was 
decided to make the attempt. In manufac¬ 
turing the material in bulk, however, an un¬ 
expected difficulty was experienced, a large 
part of the material coming from the kiln pink 
in color. Much of it had to be replaced on this 
account, but in order to complete the building 


52 


THE FIRST MANUFACTURERS 

without delay, it was necessary to use some of 
the pink material. This can now be seen in 
the Post Building, still standing near the old 
Custom House, now the City Bank. 

“Shortly after the completion of the Post 
Building, the cause of the pinking in buff terra 
cotta was found to be insufficient steaming 
before putting on full fire, the higher tempera¬ 
ture thus caused bringing out the iron in the 
clay. It must be remembered that this was 
before the introduction of the Seger cone, and 
the firing was necessarily left to the judgment 
of the head-burner. It was shortly after this 
that copper wires, from which iron washers 
were suspended, were used as trials, copper 
melting at about 2300 degrees. The copper 
wire served an excellent purpose, the only 
difficulty being that occasionally a piece of 
terra cotta would be spoiled by the iron 
washer. The use of the copper wire was not 
discontinued until the introduction of the 
Seger cone. 

“There being no further trouble from the 
pink color, in 1883, the Metropolitan Opera 
House, in buff terra cotta, followed the Pro¬ 
duce Exchange. 

“Gray terra cotta was introduced about this 
time, and red, buff, and gray were, for several 


53 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

years, the only colors used. About 1886 
‘Pompeian’ and ‘Old Gold’ open-fire, or 
flashed terra cotta, were brought out, but ow¬ 
ing to the great variation in color and other 
difficulties in manufacture, were not long on 
the market. 

“The advent of the so-called ‘Pompeian’ 
terra cotta and bricks was brought about by 
accident. The late Stanford White, upon one 
of his visits to the Perth Amboy Plant, to talk 
over with Mr. Hall a special size Roman brick 
he wanted made, noticed the bricks used in 
the Company stable, and in the old Hall resi¬ 
dence on the northwest corner of High Street 
and Buckingham Avenue. He said that was 
just about what he wanted for color, only with 
more spots. Mr. Hall told him he could easily 
give him what he wanted both in color and in 
size. Experiments were made, using Anness 
and Lyle’s mottled clay, which at that time 
was a drug on the market, as it was not 
thought fit for high-class brick. Sample bricks 
were made, 12 by 4 by iy 2 inches, out of this 
clay, burning them in open-fire brick kilns. 
They proved entirely satisfactory to Mr. 
White, who ordered them used in the Tiffany 
residence, at 72nd Street and Madison Ave¬ 
nue, New York City, of which he was the 


54 


THE FIRST MANUFACTURERS 

architect. They proved a great success, and 
many large orders followed their use in the 
Tiffany residence. These bricks were known / 
in the market at that time as Tiff any Brick/ 

“Some years later, Mr. White gave Mr. Hall 
a fragment of a Roman brick which he had 
brought with him from Italy, and asked him 
to try and match it, as he wanted to use some 
bricks, and also terra cotta, of about the shade 
of the fragment, in a portion of his design for 
the new Library at Boston. The color of 
the fragment submitted resembled the color 
and mottled appearance of old weathered 
Roman gold. Mr. Booth was called in, and 
consulted, and he said he could match the 
color, using a standard buff body and burn¬ 
ing in the upper bearings of the open-fire 
brick kilns. Sample bricks 12 by 4 by 2 inches 
were made and burned as directed by Mr. 
Booth. They turned out perfectly satisfac¬ 
tory to Mr. White, who ordered them used in 
the Boston Library. This was the origin of 
the so-called ‘Old Gold’ brick and terra cotta. 

“In 1886, Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz, architect of 
the first telephone building, 18 Cortlandt 
Street, expressed a desire for a shade that 
should be distinctive and different from any¬ 
thing then on the market. A color was pro- 


55 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


duced by a mixture of red and buff clays. This, 
meeting his approval, was chosen for both the 
terra cotta and the brick. It was given the 
name of Telephone’ color, and for a time 
was quite a popular shade. 

“In 1889, McKim, Mead and White asked 
for white terra cotta. This was made by spray¬ 
ing a buff body with a white burning clay. For 
several years there was quite a run on white 
terra cotta. The first building in which it was 
used was the Madison Square Garden, fol¬ 
lowed by the Imperial Hotel, Broadway and 
31st Street, the Judge Building, Fifth Avenue 
and 16th Street, the Goelet Building, Broad¬ 
way and 20th Street, and the Century Club, 
New York City, and the Reading Terminal, 
Philadelphia. The absorptive character of 
the white clay, however, caused the terra cotta 
to become soiled, and a demand arose for a 
material that should be permanent in color. 

“In 1894, T. C. Booth, who had had some 
experience in making glazes in England, 
though he was far from being a ceramic chem¬ 
ist, brought some samples of full white glaze 
which looked promising. He was given an 
opportunity to make white glazed terra cotta. 
The samples came out successfully, excepting 
that they were full glazed: he was never able 


56 


THE FIRST MANUFACTURERS 

to produce a mat glaze. At the suggestion of 
William C. Hall, these samples were sand¬ 
blasted, then presenting a very satisfactory 
surface, not absolutely non-absorbent, but 
more so than anything else then on the market. 

“Many experiments were made to produce 
satisfactory polychrome terra cotta, but with 
little success, and in very primitive ways, until 
about 1900, when an excellent polychrome was 
produced. The Madison Square Church, Mad¬ 
ison Avenue and 24th Street, now unfortu¬ 
nately being razed, is an excellent example of 
this material, and is notable as the last work of 
the late Stanford White. It was the first im¬ 
portant example of polychrome terra cotta in 
this country. 

“From 1879 to 1919, just forty years since 
terra cotta was placed upon the market as a 
commercial product in New York, and what 
real difficulties have been overcome in the 
course of more than a generation! The first 
trouble was caused by the use of sand in place 
of grit by Robert Taylor, when he first made 
terra cotta for A. Hall and Sons at Perth Am¬ 
boy, evidently being unaware that burnt mate¬ 
rial was far superior. The use of the latter 
was first suggested by the late Edward J. Hall. 


57 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


Other difficulties, such as cracking, warping, 
discoloration, have all been overcome, and 
today, after so many years, manufacturers are 
placing on the market a material that is not 
excelled by any other.” 

In the fall of 1903, William C. Hall, who 
had been the General Manager of the Com¬ 
pany, suffered an attack of apoplexy, from 
which he never fully recovered. In 1907, the 
Company was merged in the new Atlantic 
combination. 

In addition to the buildings mentioned in 
Mr. Putnam’s story, the Perth Amboy Com¬ 
pany furnished the terra-cotta for the Pulitzer 
Building, New York; Harrison Building, Phil¬ 
adelphia; Ellicott Square, Buffalo; Rialto, 
Chicago; Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco; 
and the Ponce de Leon Hotel, St. Augustine, 
Florida. 


58 


CHAPTER IV 


THE BOSTON COMPANIES 



HERE may be a reasonable 
doubt in the minds of many per¬ 
sons as to whether New York or 
Boston should follow next in 
order after Atlanta and Perth 
Amboy as the centre of the manufacture 
of architectural terra cotta in the East, but 
there can be no question as to the fact that 
the architects of Boston were ready to and 
did accept terra cotta as a building material 
long before the architects of New York were 
willing to recognize the practical utility of the 
industry in this country. 

As early as 1871, John H. Sturgis, of the 
firm of Sturgis and Brigham, of Boston, had 


59 













THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


given the material much study, and had 
formed such favorable opinions regarding it 
as to encourage him to read a paper entitled, 
“Terra Cotta and Its Uses,” before the conven¬ 
tion of American Architects, at their meeting 
held at the Massachusetts Institute of Tech¬ 
nology, in Boston, 15 November, 1871. The 
following year, as already related, this firm 
employed English terra cotta very extensively 
in the Boston Museum of Arts. 

With many examples before them, both of 
imported and native work, the architects of 
Boston did not long continue to neglect a 
material that was so readily obtainable and of 
such usefulness, and we find that the next step 
was taken by Whitney W. Lewis, who in 1877 
made the designs for two houses at the corner 
of Commonwealth Avenue and Gloucester 
Street, in which red brick and buff terra cotta 
were used. This work, made in Chicago, was 
the first buff architectural terra cotta used in 
Boston, and these houses were really the first 
buildings of American terra cotta erected in 
the city of Boston. 

The excellent quality of the terra cotta 


60 


THE BOSTON COMPANIES 

made in Chicago, when judged by the stand¬ 
ard of the fine imported English work on the 
Museum of Arts, created a growing demand 
for the manufacture of the material in Boston, 
and in 1878, when the city authorities decided 
to build a new English High and Latin School, 
George Clough, the city architect, was in¬ 
structed to use terra cotta for the decorations. 
The contractors for the building were Nor- 
cross Brothers, of Worcester, Massachusetts, 
who had set in place the terra -cotta on Trinity 

i 

Church. The contract was given to the Chi¬ 
cago Works, but Sanford E. Loring, the Man¬ 
ager, realizing the expense of freighting the 
manufactured terra cotta from Chicago to 
Boston, induced James Edmonds, the manager 
of the Boston Fire Brick Company, whose 
works at 394 Federal Street were partially idle, 
to undertake the contract, and the prepared 
clay only was sent from Chicago, all the work 
being modelled, moulded, pressed and burned 
at the Boston Works. 

As Loring had to superintend the Chicago 
Works, it was of course impossible for him to 
take care of the Boston branch. He therefore 


61 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

went to Eagleswood (Perth Amboy), New Jer¬ 
sey, where his old superintendent, James Tay¬ 
lor, was engaged, and prevailed upon him to 
go to Boston and take charge of making the 
Latin School work. Thus under experienced 
management the new Boston branch of the 
Chicago Works succeeded in producing what 
is even at this date one of the best specimens 
of terra cotta work in Boston. The color of 
the terra cotta work is gray, while the brick 
work is red. It is worthy of mention that the 
time between beginning to reconstruct the 
works at Federal Street and the first deliveries 
of terra cotta at the school house site was so 
short that pug mills could not be got ready in 
time, and the clay for the work burned in the 
first kilns was tempered by foot in the old 
primitive way. 

The progress of the Boston branch was so 
rapid that several large contracts for terra¬ 
cotta were soon obtained, among others a dor¬ 
mitory for Brown University, and the Hotel 
Dorrence, at Providence, and the Morse Build¬ 
ing, corner of Nassau and Beekman Streets, 
New York. 


62 


THE BOSTON COMPANIES 


Although the Boston enterprise started out 
so well it did not long continue. Some dispute 
over finances arose between the Boston Fire 
Brick Company and Loring which led to a 
final break, and all business relations were 
closed between them. Taylor was engaged 
to appraise the value of stock and plant, and 
to finish all outstanding contracts, which he 
did in the Spring of 1879. One contract, that 
for the Brooklyn Historical Society, had just 
been started, and was by his advice given to 
the firm of Alfred Hall and Sons, of Perth 
Amboy, which was then just beginning to 
make architectural terra cotta work, in their 
old Yellow Ware Pottery. 

Among the employes of the Boston Terra 
Cotta Works was a young man named Harry 
A. Lewis, a brother of Whitney W. Lewis the 
architect. When the Boston Works were 
closed he formed a partnership with an old 
friend, Charles G. Wood, to reopen the works. 
This was done in May, 1879, and James Taylor 
was engaged by them to superintend the works 
and advise them in the business, neither of 
them, at that time, having had any experience 


63 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

in terra cotta, except the few months that 
Lewis had acted as clerk for Loring. In 1880, 
they moved their business to First Street, 
South Boston, and built a new factory. In 
July, of the same year, the firm of Lewis and 
Wood was dissolved, Mr. Wood retiring from 
the business. Lewis then obtained a new 
partner, and the works were continued under 
the name of Lewis and Lane. Taylor’s con¬ 
nection with the firm ceased with the retire¬ 
ment of Wood. The new firm did not endure 
much longer than the old, and after the retire¬ 
ment of Lane, in July, 1883, the business was 
continued by H. A. Lewis alone, under the 
style of the H. A. Lewis Architectural Terra 
Cotta Works. During the eight years these 
works were in operation under H. A. Lewis 
and his partners, they produced many good 
examples of terra cotta, which are spread over 
all the Eastern and Middle States, some of 
them being of large and fine proportions. 
Lewis had very good family and business con¬ 
nections, and made an artistic, if not a great 
financial success of his business. In 1887, he 
sold his business to the Perth Amboy Company 


64 


THE BOSTON COMPANIES 

and became manager of their Philadelphia 
office. 

In 1880, after the vacating of the Federal 
Street works by Lewis and Wood, the direc¬ 
tors of the Boston Fire Brick Company thought 
it was still desirable to use the plant for mak¬ 
ing architectural terra cotta. They therefore 
invited James Taylor, who had returned to 
New Jersey, to come to Boston and see them 
regarding the matter. The result of this con¬ 
sultation was the organization, 19 October 
1880, of the Boston Terra Cotta Company, 
with James Taylor as Superintendent. 

The Boston Company at once stepped into 
the front rank, and for many years did a very 
successful business. Soon after the works were 
reopened, the Secretary and Treasurer, James 
Edmonds, died, and George M. Fiske, of the 
firm of Fiske and Coleman, was elected to fill 
the vacancy. Mr. Fiske carried the enterprise 
to a great success, and to him terra cotta 
workers owe a debt of good will for his ener¬ 
getic and persistent efforts to advance the 
craft. The President of the Boston Company 
was R. G. F. Candage, a retired sea captain 


65 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

and a member of the Harbor Commission of 
Boston. The Treasurer, George M. Fiske, was 
an Alderman of the City of Newton. One of 
the Foremen was John Evatt, who was later 
connected with the New York Company, and 
afterwards the New York representative of the 
Boston Company. His son, Frank G. Evatt, is 
now Vice-President of the Atlantic Company. 

In December, 1893, the Boston Company 
was bought by the Perth Amboy and New 
York Companies and the works closed. Mr. 
Fiske then became for ten years General New 
England Agent of the New York Company. 
He has since been interested in the manufac¬ 
ture of face-bricks, and his “tapestry bricks” 
are well known throughout the country. 

The first important building, decorated with 
terra cotta, made by the Boston Company, was 
the Grand Exposition Building of the Massa¬ 
chusetts Charitable Mechanics Association, on 
Huntington Avenue, Boston. It also fur¬ 
nished the work for the Barnum Institute of 
Science and History, at Bridgeport, Connecti¬ 
cut; the Casino Theatre, and the Potter Build¬ 
ing, New York City; the Military Frieze for 


66 


THE BOSTON COMPANIES 

the Pension Office, Washington, and the terra 
cotta for the Soldiers Monuments at Hartford 
and Baltimore. It also made the faience work 
for the corridors of the Adams House and the 
Charlesgate, Boston, and the interior of the 
Reading Terminal at Philadelphia, very good 
specimens of glazed work. 

The following interesting story of the Bos¬ 
ton Terra Cotta Company has been prepared 
by George M. Fiske, former Manager of the 
Company: 

“As will be seen by the items of my biog¬ 
raphy, I was a farmer’s boy, enlisting in the 
Union Army at the age of twenty. Returning 
from the army, I engaged in farming and in 
trading. In 1870, I entered the employ of 
James Edmond and Company, manufacturers 
and importers of fire brick and other clay 
goods, at 394 Federal Street, Boston. The 
plant belonged to the Boston Fire Brick Com¬ 
pany, and was leased by James Edmond and 
Company. I remained in their employ until 
the year 1877, and thus obtained a practical 
knowledge of the clay-working industry. I 
then formed a partnership with Eugene B. 


67 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

Coleman, under the firm name of Fiske and 
Coleman. 

“Sometime in the seventies, Sanford E. Lor- 
ing had started manufacturing architectural 
terra cotta in Chicago. He obtained a con¬ 
tract for a large amount of terra cotta for the 
Boston English High School. Finding it im¬ 
practicable to supply the material from 
Chicago, he came to Boston to look up a fac¬ 
tory for that purpose. Meantime James 
Edmond and Company had been obliged by 
business reverses to default on their lease of 
the plant, and the Fire Brick Company had 
taken possession. Loring made a deal with 
them for the use of a part of their plant, and 
so completed his contract with the City of 
Boston. This, I think, was almost the first 
architectural terra cotta manufactured in New 
England. It aroused considerable interest 
among the architects and builders of Boston, 
and two young men, Harry A. Lewis, brother 
of a prominent Boston architect, and Charles 
G. Wood, leased one of the Fire Brick Com¬ 
pany^ kilns and continued the manufacture. 
After some ten or twelve months they left 
Federal Street and built a new plant at South 
Boston. Meantime Fiske and Coleman were 
doing a growing and profitable business, and 


68 


THE BOSTON COMPANIES 


in 1879 the Fire Brick Company came to them 
with a proposition the result of which was that 
the two concerns were merged under the title 
Boston Fire Brick Works, Fiske and Coleman, 
Managers. In the employ of Lewis and Wood, 
as Superintendent, was an Englishman by the 
name of James Taylor. He had had consider- 
experience in the manufacture of terra cotta 
in England, was a good talker, a great believer 
in the future of terra cotta, and very self- 
confident as to what he could do for it and 
with it. In the fall of 1880, Taylor left Lewis 
and Wood and came to us with a proposition 
to again start the manufacture of terra cotta at 
Federal Street, with himself as Superinten¬ 
dent. His proposition was favorably received, 
and in October, 1880, the Boston Terra Cotta 
Company was incorporated, with a capital of 
$10,000, afterwards increased to $50,000. All 
the incorporators were stockholders in the 
merger corporation. Captain R. G. F. Cand- 
age was elected President; James Edmond, 
Treasurer, and James Taylor, Superintendent. 
Taylor was an enthusiastic terra cotta man, 
and an indefatigable worker. He had a small 
farm in New Jersey where his family lived and 
he spent nearly every week-end there. As our 
principal market was in New York, Phila- 


69 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

delphia, and contiguous territory, he would 
often go over on Wednesday or Thursday 
night, and spend a day or two with the archi¬ 
tects and contractors of New York and Phila¬ 
delphia. He made all the estimates and prac¬ 
tically closed all the contracts. 

“At the end of the first year, it was found 
that the company had sustained quite a loss, 
and a reorganization was recommended. Cap¬ 
tain Candage was continued as President, but 
only as presiding officer at the meetings. The 
treasurership and general management of the 
business was assigned to me, and these offices 
I retained until the liquidation of the company 
in 1894. Taylor remained with us until 1886, 
when he induced some New York parties to 
organize the New York Architectural Terra- 
Cotta Company with himself as Superinten¬ 
dent. His leaving appeared to be a serious 
blow to us, as we had just obtained some im¬ 
portant contracts. Fortunately, however, I 
had anticipated this move on his part, and had 
spent considerable time in familiarizing my¬ 
self with the manufacture, and with estimat¬ 
ing. I secured the services of William H. 
Junge, as Superintendent. Junge had been 
with the Chicago Terra Cotta Company for 
some time, and had proved himself a faithful 


70 


THE BOSTON COMPANIES 


and able Superintendent. We opened an 
office in New York with John G. Evatt in 
charge. Evatt was an Englishman with con¬ 
siderable experience in this line of business, 
and had been in our employ for some time. 
His two sons, Frank and Walter, who subse¬ 
quently became quite prominent and success¬ 
ful in the terra cotta business, were also in my 
employ at that time. We also opened an office 
in Philadelphia with 0. W. Ketcham in charge. 
I visited these offices, as a rule, once a week, 
going over to Philadelphia on the night train, 
spending the forenoon there, the afternoon 
and evening in New York, and back to Boston 
the next morning. And so the Boston Terra 
Cotta Company held its own in competition 
with New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia 
companies. And right here I take pleasure in 
saying that this competition was of a most 
courteous and honorable nature. We formed 
an Association, which I believe continued for 
some years, and among my pleasantest recol¬ 
lections with terra cotta, both business and 
social, are my relations with the terra cotta 
fraternity. 

“As before stated, our principal market was 
in New York, Philadelphia, and vicinity, but 
business came from all over the country, and 


71 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

the product of the Boston Terra Cotta Com¬ 
pany can be found today in nearly all the large 
cities east of the Rocky Mountains. Freights 
were against us in the greater part of our busi¬ 
ness, but these were pioneer days in this manu¬ 
facture: demand was good and prices often 
ran as high as $100 per ton. 

“In those early days, there was no conception 
whatever of the artistic colors and forms which 
were later developed by the joint study and 
effort of architect and manufacturer. The 
early demand was almost entirely for red 
terra cotta, but before the liquidation of our 
company in 1894, the development had 
achieved notable progress. My own principal 
contribution was in the line of Fire Flashed 
Terra Cotta, ‘Pompeian’ and ‘Old Gold/ 
made of fire clay and burned under intense 
heat. The manufacture of this quality and 
color of terra cotta was continued at South 
Boston by Fiske and Company, successors to 
Fiske and Coleman, some years after the liqui¬ 
dation of the Boston Terra Cotta Company. A 
notable example of this product is the Youths 
Companion Building, at the corner of Colum¬ 
bus Avenue and Berkeley Street, Boston. 

“It will thus be seen that the Boston Terra 
Cotta Company was one of the pioneers in the 


72 


THE BOSTON COMPANIES 


manufacture of terra cotta in the United 
States. 

“In 1894, having secured the agency of the 
New York Architectural Terra-Cotta Com¬ 
pany for New England, we discontinued manu¬ 
facturing, and I liquidated the Company. The 
financial history of the Boston Terra Cotta 
Company is one which I can recall with some 
satisfaction. I paid my stockholders large 
dividends, and returned to them every dollar 
of their capital.” 



73 


/ 


CHAPTER V 


TERRA COTTA IN NEW YORK 



URING the first half of the last 
century the City Hall Park in 
New York extended as far south 
as Barclay Street. At a later 
date the southern end was ceded 
to the United States Government, and that 
architectural monstrosity, the United States 
Post Office, was erected on the site from 
plans of A. B. Mullet, the worst Supervis¬ 
ing Architect the Treasury Department ever 
possessed. In the collections of the New 
York Historical Society there are fine old 
prints showing the City Hall Park as it then 
looked, and as we hope it may again look in 
the near future. As one walked up Broadway 


74 













TERRA COTTA IN NEW YORK 

in those days the view of the lovely City Hall 
was entrancing in its beauty. The southern 
end of the Park was graced by willow trees 
and a greensward. The homes of fashion 
were near by, and here were the gay shops and 
hotels. On the left was the Astor House, the 
last word in luxurious living. From its win¬ 
dows one could see the marvelous fountain 
with its jet of pure Croton which rose seventy 
feet in the air. On the next corner, in a fine 
old mansion on the site now covered by the 
towering Woolworth Building, lived Philip 
Hone, the most courtly Mayor that New York 
ever had. Across the southern end of the 
Park, where the Park Row Building now 
stands, was the Park Theatre, where the 
famous Mr. Hone went of first-nights carry¬ 
ing his gold-headed cane. In this theatre the 
first performance of Italian Opera in America 
was given, 29 November 1825. 

At the fete to celebrate the opening of the 
Croton Water Supply in 1842, thousands of 
persons joined in a procession which swept 
to the flashing fountain and was seven hours 
in passing. The unsightly wooden fence 


75 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

which had enclosed the Park was removed in 
1822, and at great expense a wrought iron 
railing was imported from England to replace 
it. At the southern end there was erected an 
imposing gateway flanked with marble pillars. 
On the top of these columns, in May 1827, 
were placed four cannon balls of granite 
brought from Europe by Commodore Decatur. 
According to another account, these balls 
were taken from the ruins of ancient Troy, 
and were presented to the city by Captain 
John B. Nicholson. But be that as it may, 
when the columns were later removed, they 
were transferred to Union Square, from which 
they disappeared, cannon balls and all. 

On the east side of the Park, in the triangu¬ 
lar block bounded by Park Row, Beekman 
and Nassau Streets stood the old Brick Pres¬ 
byterian Church, erected in 1768. Early in 
the fifties the Church decided to move uptown 
to 37th Street and Fifth Avenue, where in 
1858 an exact reproduction of the older edi- 
face was built in brick and brown-stone, but 
on a larger scale. The former site was offered 
for sale, but it was not easy to find a pur- 


76 


TERRA COTTA IN NEW YORK 

chaser owing to a condition in the original 
deed of gift which provided that the ground 
should always be used for church purposes. 
Finally, in 1854, the site was bought by 
George Jones, the publisher of the “Times,” 
who had sufficient influence with the city 
government to have the title cleared. The 
Church did not give possession until the first 
of June, 1856, the last service being held 
25 May, in that year. 

The south end of the plot was sold by Mr. 
Jones to Orlando B. Potter, who had then 
recently moved from Boston to New York, 
and he tore down the old church and erected 
a five-story business building of buff sand¬ 
stone, his first real estate venture in the city. 
This building was generally known as the 
“World Building” from the fact that that 
newspaper, founded in 1860 as a semi¬ 
religious journal, was published there for 
many years. The balance of the block was im¬ 
proved by George Jones, who in 1857 put up 
a similar building for the occupancy of the 
“Times.” 

There is an old tradition in England that a 


77 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

secular building erected on consecrated ground 
will come to an untimely end, and such proved 
to be the case in this instance. The last day of 
January, 1882, the “World Building” was en¬ 
tirely destroyed by fire, with the loss of several 
lives. Mr. Potter was very savagely attacked 
by the “World” and “Times” for owning such 
a non-fireproof structure. He was so sensitive 
on the subject that he made up his mind, 
when he rebuilt, to have the most durable and 
fireproof structure in the city. During the 
next two years he personally conducted nu¬ 
merous experiments to determine what were 
the most weather-resisting and fireproof ma¬ 
terials, and finally decided to use brick and 
architectural terra cotta for the new Potter 
Building. 

A great increase in the construction of brick 
buildings had followed the great fires of 
Chicago and Boston, which had conclusively 
demonstrated that fireproof buildings could 
not be built of unprotected stone or iron, and 
that only brick and terra cotta walls were 
practically fireproof. This increased use of 


78 


TERRA COTTA IN NEW YORK 

terra cotta as a constructive and decorative 
material in connection with brick work re¬ 
vived the demand for its manufacture in or 
near New York. The real renaissance of 
architectural terra cotta, however, did not 
reach the city until the year 1877, nor did 
the clay manufacturers in that neighborhood 
give any indications prior to that date of tak¬ 
ing any great interest in this branch of the 
business. In the meantime the demand for 
terra cotta had been steadily circling towards 
the metropolis, each year getting nearer. 
Architect Sims, of Philadelphia, had used it in 
the construction of a new chapel for Grace 
Church in that city. Stone and Carpenter, 
architects of Providence, had proved its value 
on several residences, and especially upon the 
Providence City Hall. But the architects 
of New York seemed to have resolved, after 
the unfortunate essay of Mr. Renwick in 
1853, not to again venture upon any trial of 
its availability for their purposes. 

Finally, in 1877, a residence was built for 
a Mr. Braehm on the north side of 36th Street, 
just west of Park Avenue, from designs of 


79 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

George B. Post, architect, in which terra cotta 
was quite extensively used, both for decora¬ 
tive and constructive purposes. The mason 
contractors were Smith and Prodgers, and 
their foreman, Isaac Whitenach, set the ma¬ 
terial in place. The terra cotta, which was 
red in color, was made in Chicago. It is note¬ 
worthy that the first terra cotta used in New 
York, in the neighborhood of which red-burn¬ 
ing clays abound, should have been made at 
a plant where buff work was the standard, 
and which had to get its red-burning clays 
from Galesburgh, Illinois, or from Akron, 
Ohio, both of which clays were used on this 
work. 

The work was set in place under the super¬ 
vision of James Taylor, who was engaged by 
the Chicago managers for the purpose, as they 
were anxious that this their maiden effort in 
the City of New York should prove a success. 
The work was still in perfect condition when 
the house was demolished a few years ago to 
make place for the Library of the late J. Pier- 
pont Morgan. 

The first important New York building in 


80 



VIEW OF CITY HALL PARK, 1850 












TERRA COTTA IN NEW YORK 


which terra cotta was used was the Morse 
Building, northeast corner of Beekman and 
Nassau Streets, erected in 1879. This was a 
solid handsome structure of nine stories. The 
owners, the two Morse brothers, and their 
architects, Silliman and Farnsworth, were in¬ 
fluenced in their choice of material by the 
fact that in the great Chicago and Boston 
fires, brick and terra cotta had proved to be 
the only fire-resistant materials. Part of the 
terra cotta was made at the Chicago plant, and 
part at the branch of their works in Boston. 

The first terra cotta plant to be established 
within the limits of the present New York 
City was the Long Island Terra Cotta Works, 
organized in 1879, the same year that the 
Perth Amboy Company was incorporated. 
It was located at Ravenswood, Long Island 
City, about four city blocks south of the 
present works of the New York Company. 
The site was a most central one, on the East 
River, with a good water frontage, opposite 
53rd Street, New York, and easily reached 
by the three ferries from the city or by the 
horse cars from Brooklyn. It came closer 


81 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

than Perth Amboy and promised to be a 
dangerous competitor for the city business. 

The chief promoter, who planned and 
erected the factory and manufacturing plant, 
was Rudolph Franke, who had had some ex¬ 
perience in the terra cotta works of Ernst 
March, at Charlottenburg (Berlin), in Ger¬ 
many, and who had also been employed for 
some time as Assistant Superintendent at 
the Perth Amboy works. 

The undertaking, however, did not succeed, 
and the works were closed at the end of 
eighteen months. Whatever measure of suc¬ 
cess did fall to the Long Island Works was 
mostly due to the earnest labors of John A. 
Fincke, who afterwards went to the Indian¬ 
apolis Terra Cotta Works. John A. Fincke 
was well known to architectural terra cotta 
manufacturers as a painstaking, careful 
worker, giving his whole study to the laying 
out of details and construction so as to best 
meet the difficulties of the material. It may 
be said that no man could have more faith¬ 
fully served his employers according to his 
ability than he did, and after the works were 


82 


TERRA COTTA IN NEW YORK 

closed he always retained the esteem of the 
Franke Brothers. 

In 1883, two years after the withdrawal of 

t 

Alfred Hall from the Perth Amboy Company, 
he founded the A. Hall Terra Cotta Company, 
with the following officers: Alfred Hall, 
President; Eber H. Hall, Vice-President, and 
Fred C. Greenley, Treasurer. Robert W. 
Taylor was the Superintendent. A new fac¬ 
tory was built at Perth Amboy very near the 
site of the old works. This company was al¬ 
ways handicapped by the lack of sufficient 
working capital and had rather an unsuccess¬ 
ful career. In April, 1887, shortly after the 
death of Alfred Hall, the Company went into 
liquidation. The plant was leased in 1889 by 
the Perth Amboy and New York Companies 
and the works finally shut down. 

From among the many buildings furnished 
by these works, we select the following as 
worthy of mention: Williamsburgh Fire In¬ 
surance Building, Broadway and Liberty 
Street; German Lutheran Church, West 35th 
Street, and the Ovington Store Building, 
Brooklyn. 


83 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


Early in the eighties the Burns-Russell 
Company of Baltimore undertook the manu¬ 
facture of terra cotta on a small scale. This 
concern had long been celebrated for the ex¬ 
cellence of its face bricks. There are several 
buildings in New York City decorated with 
their terra cotta, all of very fair quality. 

From the above narrative it will be seen 
that when bids were asked for the terra cotta 
in the new Potter Building, there were five 
companies in the East ready to estimate on 
the work: 

Perth Amboy Company, Perth Amboy 

H. A. Lewis Works, Boston 

Boston Company, Boston 

A. Hall Company, Perth Amboy 

Burns-Russell Company, Baltimore 

The contract, amounting to over five hun¬ 
dred tons, was secured by the Boston 
Company. 

In King’s “Handbook of New York City,” 
published 1892, the Potter Building is thus 
described: 

“It is one of the tallest of the office build¬ 
ings around City Hall Park, and is of extraor- 


84 


TERRA COTTA IN NEW YORK 


dinary height. It has eleven stories, and was 
the first building in the midst of the great 
newspaper section to be erected of such a 
height. The Potter Building possesses two 
unusual features: first, it was the first office 
building erected in this city which was orna¬ 
mented elaborately with terra cotta; second, it 
was the first to have the iron and stone work 
covered with hollow brick as a protection 
against fire. It is one of the most substan¬ 
tially constructed and fireproof office build¬ 
ings in the city. The owner so ordered its 
construction that it would endure practically 
forever.” 

It might be added that the Potter Building 
was the last skyscraper to be erected in New 
York which did not employ the modern skele¬ 
ton steel construction which the George A. 
Fuller Company had introduced in Chicago a 
short time before, and which was coming into 
use in New York, but which Mr. Potter was 
too conservative to adopt. 

In this connection it is interesting to note 
that the first building of modern steel con¬ 
struction erected in New York City was the 
Tower Building at 50 Broadway, built by 


y 


85 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

Bradford L. Gilbert, architect, in 1886. This 
was razed several years ago by the Standard 
Oil Company, and replaced by the Standard 
Arcade. On this same site a small block-house 
was erected in 1612, the first structure built 
by Europeans upon the island of Manhattan, 
and this date is the one usually given for the 
first settlement of New York. The adjoining 
property on the north, known as the Exchange 
Court Building, was sold in September, 1919, 
by Captain John Jacob Astor, a son of Lord 
Astor, to Robert E. Dowling of the City In¬ 
vesting Company. 

All of the property located in this section 
of Broadway abounds in historical interest. 
Here was situated in 1677, “Mr. Rombout’s 
Well,” for many years considered one of the 
principal fire protections of the city, and not 
abolished until 1806. At Number 26, for 
many years the headquarters of the Standard 
Oil Company, was the residence of General 
Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the 
Treasury. Early in the last century, Governor 
Jay erected a large stone house at Number 52, 
which was then considered a great ornament 


86 


TERRA COTTA IN NEW YORK 

to the street. In 1852, this whole plot was 
occupied by the United States Bonded Ware¬ 
house, which was later changed into an office 
building known as Exchange Court, which 
was occupied by Governor Flower and many 
prominent brokers. Early in the present 
century, this building was torn down and re¬ 
placed by the present structure. The propor¬ 
tions of the new building and the architec¬ 
tural treatment of the facade were widely 
commented on at the time. The architect was 
influenced by the association of the site with 
early New York history, and he placed on a 
cornice above the first floor gigantic statues 
of men prominent in the affairs of the city 
under Dutch rule. One of them is the stern 
and haughty figure of Peter Stuyvesant, the 
last Governor of the City. 

The New York Company 

The awarding of the contract for the Potter 
Building to the Boston Company led in¬ 
directly two years later to the founding of the 
New York Company. James Taylor, of the 
Boston Company, was frequently in New York 


87 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

supervising the setting of the terra cotta, and 
had numerous opportunities of meeting Mr. 
Potter, who always personally looked after 
the construction of his buildings. Taylor at 
that time wanted to leave Boston and come 
to New York, and he finally succeeded in con¬ 
vincing Mr. Potter that there was an opening 
for a new terra cotta company in New York, 
and the result was the incorporation in Janu¬ 
ary, 1886, of the New York Architectural 
Terra-Cotta Company. 

A large plot of ground containing nearly 
five acres was purchased on the East River 
immediately adjoining on the south the pres¬ 
ent location of the Queensborough Bridge, 
which was built many years later. At that 
time the present Long Island City in the 
Borough of Queens consisted of three towns 
or cities known as Hunter’s Point, Ravens- 
wood and Astoria. The river was then lined 
with handsome old mansions, with grounds 
sloping down to the water. Astoria was so 
named from the fact that the Astor family at 
one time had a fine country place in that 
locality. 


88 












TERRA COTTA IN NEW YORK 


The President of the New York Company 
was Walter Geer, a lawyer by profession, 
who for three years before had been Assistant 
General Manager of the Chicago office of the 
Walter A. Wood Mowing and Reaping Ma¬ 
chine Company. The Vice-President was his 
father, Asahel C. Geer, also a lawyer, who had 
just retired from active business, after being 
for eighteen years the Manager of the Wood 
Company. 

The Treasurer was J. Maus Schermerhorn, 
of Syracuse, where he had occupied a similar 
position with the Sweet Manufacturing Com¬ 
pany. The Secretary was Herman L. Matz, 
of Chicago, who afterwards returned to his 
native city where he has since been prominent 
in the pressed brick business. 

The construction of the new plant was be¬ 
gun 1 February, 1886, and on the 10th day 
of May following the main building was 
under roof and the first kiln of terra cotta 
burned. 

Walter Geer remained the President of the 
New York Company for thirty-three years, 
from 1886 to 1919, when he retired to take 


89 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

the position of Chairman of the Board of 
Directors. 

A. C. Geer was Vice-President until his 
death in 1902 in the eightieth year of his age. 
Although he was never active in the manage¬ 
ment of the Company, he always attended the 
meetings of the directors and was prominent 
in the councils of the Company. His position 
was really that of Chairman of the Board, an 
office which, though common in England, 
was hardly known here thirty years ago. 

Mr. Geer was succeeded as Vice-President 
by John Alvin Young, then President of the 
Windsor Trust Company. On his retirement 
in 1907, Ferdinand C. Townsend, a well- 
known public accountant, took his place, and 
is still with the Company. 

The first Treasurer, Maus Schermerhorn, 
only remained with the Company for a few 
years, when he left to take a banking posi¬ 
tion. He was succeeded by the Assistant 
Treasurer, James R. Owens, who had been 
with the Company almost from the start. 
After about fifteen years, Mr. Owens was 
obliged to give up his position on account of 


90 


TERRA COTTA IN NEW YORK 

failing health. He was succeeded by Richard 
F. Dalton, who occupied the office until he 
was elected President in 1919. Mr. Dalton 
was born in Ireland, and came to this country 
at an early age. He learned stenography, 
and began with the Company in that capacity. 
He also studied law and was admitted to the 
bar, and for the past ten years has handled 
all of the legal business of the Company in 
addition to his other duties. 

Two other young men have been very 
prominent in the affairs of the Company dur¬ 
ing the last ten years. Walter Geer, Jr., 
entered the employ of the Company after 
graduating from the Sheffield Scientific 
School at Yale in 1911. He learned the busi¬ 
ness both from the factory and the office end, 
and for several years now has been Vice- 
President in charge of the Sales Department, 
and is now also Treasurer of the Company. 
The other was Fred B. Ortman, a graduate of 
Ohio State University, and one of the leading 
Ceramic Chemists of the country. After be¬ 
ing with the New York Company for over five 
years, he went to Chicago to take charge 


91 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

of this department of the Northwestern 
Company. 

John Geib, who is now the Secretary and 
City Sales Agent, has been with the Company 
since the start. He has a most genial and 
attractive personality and is well and favor¬ 
ably known to every contractor in the city. 

The first Superintendent, James Taylor, re¬ 
mained with the Company for seven years, 
when he retired to his little farm in New 
Jersey, where he spent the rest of his life. 
Taylor was a man of great energy, of much 
practical ability, full of confidence in himself 
and his work, and a most persuasive talker. 
It was due mainly to his ultra-conservatism 
that he failed to achieve a greater measure 
of success. Like the Bourbons, “He never 
learned and he never forgot.” He was unable 
to adapt himself to changed conditions and 
improved methods. Therefore, he was left 
behind in the race by men younger and less- 
experienced than himself. Nevertheless, 
American manufacturers owe him a great 
debt of gratitude for what he did for terra 
cotta in this country. 


92 


TERRA COTTA IN NEW YORK 

The following tribute to Mr. Taylor is from 
a letter of Karl Mathiasen: “As an adminis¬ 
trator, Taylor very likely would not meet 
present day requirements, but he had more 
academic knowledge of terra cotta than any 
man in the business at the present time. He 
was the pioneer of terra cotta in America. He 
cleared the way. He has left much good 
work behind him.” 

Taylor was succeeded by Ira L. Conkling 
who only stayed one year, when he left to 
start the Conkling-Armstrong Company. The 
next Superintendent was Thomas Cusack, 
previously the head draftsman. Mr. Cusack 
was a very erratic genius, possessed of much 
academic and practical knowledge of terra 
cotta. He wrote some very valuable articles 
on the subject which were published in the 
“Brick-Builder” and attracted wide and 
favorable attention. When he retired, and 
returned to his old home in England, John 
Clark, who had been with the Company from 
the first as Foreman Presser, and Assistant 
Superintendent, was made Superintendent. 
Clark is well-known as one of the ablest and 


93 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

most experienced practical men in the busi¬ 
ness. 

To two men in particular the Eastern manu¬ 
facturers of terra cotta owe an enormous debt 

w 

of gratitude. One was George B. Post, the 
first New York architect to extend a welcom¬ 
ing hand to the new terra cotta workers, and 
it was a great piece of good fortune for them 
that they received their introduction from so 
eminent a gentleman and architect. The 
other was Orlando B. Potter, one of the most 
extensive real estate owners in New York 
City, and one of the founders of the New York 
Company, who employed terra cotta largely 
in all of the numerous buildings which he 
erected, and did much by his example, and 
also by his advocacy of the material on all 
occasions, to promote and encourage its use. 


94 


CHAPTER VI 


THE BROWN ASSOCIATIONS 

N the earlier years of the terra 
cotta business in New York the 
offices of all the companies were 
located down town in the vicin¬ 
ity of the City Hall. The offices 
of the New York Company were on the 
eleventh floor of the new Potter Building, look¬ 
ing out on the City Hall Park. The Perth 
Amboy office was on the Vesey Street side of 
the Astor House facing old St. Paul's Church 
Yard. At that time the Astor House was not 
so popular as formerly with the traveling pub¬ 
lic and a large number of rooms had been 
rented for business offices. 

Soon after the first of April, 1886, when 



95 









THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

Walter Geer arrived in New York to assume 
his new position with the New York Company, 
he made the acquaintance of William C. Hall, 
and one day Hall invited him to luncheon at 
the Astor House. After the luncheon, they 
went upstairs to the Perth Amboy office to 
talk over a little scheme which Hall had in 
mind. The main office of the Perth Amboy 
Company then and afterwards was at the 
works, but the Company had a city sales office 
in charge of Oswald Speir. Speir was a very 
handsome, attractive young man of about 
twenty-two years of age, who had begun with 
the Company five years before at the foot of 
the ladder and by sheer ability had worked 
his way up to his present position. He is now 
the General Manager of the Los Angeles office 
of the Gladding and McBean Company, of 
San Francisco. 

At that time Hall was about thirty years of 
age and in the flower of his youth. At Yale, 
where he had graduated eleven years before, 
he had been a member of Bob Cook’s cele¬ 
brated crew, and had also rowed in the single¬ 
scull race at Saratoga. He was a young man of 


96 


THE BROWN ASSOCIATIONS 

very fertile imagination, of great mental activ¬ 
ity, although rather lazy physically, and had 
a most attractive personality. While he was 
not endowed with the brilliant analytical mind 
of his brother “E. J.,” Will Hall realized to the 
full the commercial value of friendship, and 
that was the great secret of his success. While 
many of his contemporaries buried themselves 
in dingy offices or shops and allowed business 
cares to worry them into nervous prostration, 
Hall spent much of his time at the University 
Club, cultivating friendships which were an 
invaluable asset in his business. He never 
attempted to do anything which a clerk could 
do for him, and he did his own work well be¬ 
cause he did not try to do anything else. In 
all this he followed the precept of Andrew 
Carnegie, who once said: “More big contracts 
are closed over nuts and wine than across a 
desk.” 

Hall began the conversation by saying that 
the entire terra cotta business in the East did 
not exceed half a million dollars a year, and 
that his Company alone could do nearly that 
amount. Realizing this situation, Fiske and 


97 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


Lewis had started some time before in Boston 
a very crude form of “Open-price” system. 
They would meet once or twice a week and 
talk over the various jobs, and if one could not 
convince the other that he was entitled to a 
certain contract, the matter was settled by lot. 

In the early Winter of 1886, a meeting of 
terra cotta and moulded brick manufacturers 
had been held at the Perth Amboy office in the 
Astor House to discuss certain labor demands 
which had been made, and also, if possible, to 
effect some kind of an organization. There 
were present representatives from Perth Am¬ 
boy, Boston and A. Hall, and also of Fell and 
Roberts, of Trenton, James Beggs and Com¬ 
pany, of Wilmington, and Burns, Russell and 
Company, of Baltimore. One or two other 
meetings were held, but no action was taken, 
and the labor troubles having disappeared, the 
idea of any organization between the manu¬ 
facturers was given up. Since then Hall had 
been working on an elaboration of the Fiske 
and Lewis scheme which he thought would 
help the business very materially. As a result 
of this interview with Walter Geer, and fur- 


98 


THE BROWN ASSOCIATIONS 

ther conferences at which all the other parties 
interested were present, the plan was fully 
worked out and finally adopted, and the “First 
Brown Association,” as it was afterwards 
named, began operations with offices in the 
Vanderbilt Building, 132 Nassau Street. The 
clerk in charge, or “Agent” as he was called, 
was a young lawyer named H. W. Heifer. The 
members of this Association were Perth Am¬ 
boy, New York, Boston, Lewis and A. Hall. 
There was an elaborate set of “Rules” which 
were added to or modified from time to time 
as occasion demanded, and which were finally 
printed for convenience of reference. The 
arrangement on the whole worked very well, 
and certainly stabilized the business. 

The representatives of the various com¬ 
panies who attended these earlier meetings of 
the Brown Association were usually Oswald 
Speir or Harry Powell from the Perth Amboy 
Company; Edward S. Henry, and later Miss 
Tenney, for the New York Company; I. B. 
Hill, of the Boston Company; “Bram” Lewis, 
a brother of Harry Lewis, for the Lewis Works 
and “Gil” Hall, for the A. Hall Company. 

99 


t 

> 


) 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

I. B. Hill was later with the Excelsior Com¬ 
pany, and then up to January 1918, with the 
Atlantic Company. 

At that time, the representative of the Bos¬ 
ton Company in New York was Robert R. 
Bishop, Jr., who was a typical Bostonian. 
Later he was succeeded by John G. Evatt, who 
had been in the employ of the New York Com¬ 
pany at the works, and who was the father of 
Frank G. Evatt, now Vice-President of the 
Atlantic Company. The Boston office was 
then in the new “Times” Building. Harry A. 
Lewis, who spent about half of his time at the 
Gilsey House, in New York, was his own repre¬ 
sentative in the city. 

All went well with the Association for two 
or three years, and then its success was jeop¬ 
ardized by very serious competition from a 
new Philadelphia concern. In October, 1886, 
two young modellers named Frank and Harry 
Stephens, with Lucien B. Leach, had estab¬ 
lished the firm of Stephens and Leach. Leach 
had then recently graduated from the Univer¬ 
sity of Pennsylvania as a mining engineer. 
They built a factory on leased land at 46th 


THE BROWN ASSOCIATIONS 

Street and Girard Avenue, and began to make 
terra cotta. The Stephens brothers had lots 
of grit and energy, but very little experience. 
This lack was supplied in the following Spring 
when they took into their firm Ira L. Conkling, 
one of the ablest practical men ever known in 
the business, whose untimely death a few 
years ago was much regretted by all of his old 
associates. A year later another promising 
young man came into the firm, a brother-in- 
law of Conkling’s. His name was Tom Arm¬ 
strong, a genial, whole-souled young Irishman, 
who has come to be known and loved by all 
terra cotta men from coast to coast. The firm’s 
name then became Stephens, Armstrong and 
Conkling. 

The first large contract the young concern 
figured on was the Library for the University 
of Pennsylvania. At this time Lewis had sold 
his business in Boston and become the Phila¬ 
delphia agent of the Perth Amboy Company. 
So Lewis came over from Philadelphia to at¬ 
tend the Brown meeting, and told everybody 
how he had scared the Perth Amboy Company 
some years before into cutting its bid ten per 


101 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


cent on the Produce Exchange, when he could 
not possibly have done the work, and that it 
would be foolish to try and meet the new com¬ 
petition, as it was only a bluff. But the bluff 
worked, and Philadelphia got the order at a 
good price and made a large profit. Then 
came the Drexel Institute, followed by the ad¬ 
dition to the Broad Street Station, both large 
contracts. Again there was the same discus¬ 
sion in the Brown Association, the same deci¬ 
sion to stand pat, and the same result, both 
orders going to Stephens, Armstrong and 
Conkling. 

The failure to secure the Pennsylvania Sta¬ 
tion was a sad blow to the Perth Amboy Com¬ 
pany, which had made the terra cotta for the 
original building, and Hall decided that some 
action must be taken to get the situation in 
hand. So he and Geer put their heads to¬ 
gether and worked out the plan which led to 
the formation of the Second Brown Associa¬ 
tion. 

At this time there were only four members 
of the Association, Lewis having retired, and 
one outsider, the Philadelphia concern. As 


102 


THE BROWN ASSOCIATIONS 

terra cotta is naturally a competitive business, 
it was thought best to keep the Perth Amboy 
and New York Companies as independent 
competitors. The other companies were to 
be eliminated. 

The first move was to control the A. Hall 
Company, which had practically shut down in 
1887, after the death of Alfred Hall, but was 
a possible danger spot so long as the plant re¬ 
mained in existence. So the works of that 
Company were leased for three years, and the 
lease was twice renewed. At the end of the 
nine years the Company disbanded. 

The second step was the purchase by Perth 
Amboy and New York jointly of the business 
of the Boston Company. The negotiations for 
this arrangement were protracted over many 
months, and Hall and Geer made many weary 
trips to Boston. Over and over again, when 
all the terms seemed arranged, Fiske came 
back with some new proposition. Finally, one 
day, Geer reminded him of the old story of the 
“Farmer and the Darning Needle.” It was in 
the days of barter in trade, and a Farmer comes 
into the country store with a fresh-laid egg, 


103 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


which he wants to trade for a darning needle. 
The Storekeeper agrees, and the articles 
change hands. Then the Farmer says: “Ain't 
yer gohT to treat?" So the Storekeeper brings 
out a jug of hard cider and fills a glass. “Ain't 
yer goin' to give an egg with that 'ere drink?" 
says the Farmer. So the egg is broken and 
dropped in the glass. The egg turns out to 
have a double yolk, whereupon the Farmer 
demands another darning needle! 

Fiske saw the point, and the deal was finally 
closed. As a part of the arrangement, Fiske 
became the General New England Agent of 
the New York Company under a ten-year 
contract. 

Last of all an agreement was made between 
the New York Company and Stephens, Arm¬ 
strong and Conkling of Philadelphia by which 
the latter firm was to be run as a branch of the 
former Company. New York was to conduct 
the selling end of the business, and the orders 
were to be executed at the two plants, the 
manufacturing and financial departments 
being entirely distinct and separate. Frank 
Stephens became the Treasurer, and Ira Conk- 


104 



.-i '. » : 












THE BROWN ASSOCIATIONS 


ling the Superintendent of the New York 
Company, and Harry Stephens and Tom Arm¬ 
strong were, respectively, Sales Agent and 
Superintendent at the Philadelphia Works. 

These arrangements were finally consum¬ 
mated at the end of 1893, and the Second 
Brown Association began business 20 Decem¬ 
ber in the Havemeyer Building on Cortlandt 
Street, with Thomas Van Every as Agent. For 
nearly two years, Perth Amboy and New York 
were the only members. At the end of that 
period Standard and White were taken in. 

The Standard Company had been founded 
at Perth Amboy in 1890 by five practical men. 
It was first called the Architectural Terra 
Cotta Works, but the name was afterwards 
changed on account of the similarity to the 
name of the New York Company. In 1892 it 
was incorporated under the name of Standard 
Terra Cotta Company. W. L. Farroat was 
President; H. P. Englehardt, Treasurer, and 
O. W. Peterson, Secretary. The Company 
failed in 1898 and was taken over by Henry 
Doscher, who had made a fortune in the sugar 
business in Brooklyn. The business was con- 


105 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

tinned under the name of Standard Terra 
Cotta Works (not incorporated), with A. 
Bollschweiler as Manager. In 1907 it was 
taken into the Atlantic Company. 

The White Company, which began opera¬ 
tions in 1888, was first known as the White 
Brick and Art Tile Company. In October, 
1892, it was incorporated as the White Brick 
and Terra Cotta Company. The works were 
at Clayton, Massachusetts, near the Connecti¬ 
cut border, and the clay found there burned 
white, hence the name. It was soon found, 
however, that the clay was too refractory to 
be burned in muffled kilns, unless mixed with 
a buff clay, which had to be brought from New 
Jersey. This made the cost of manufacture so 
high as to be prohibitive, and after losing a 
great deal of money the Company finally dis¬ 
continued operations early in the present cen¬ 
tury. Charles Siegler, who had made a for¬ 
tune with the P. Lorillard Tobacco Company, 
was the President, and W. Irving Kent the 
Vice-President. 


106 


CHAPTER VII 


THE ROMANCE OF A CONTRACT 

0OKING backwards over more 
than a third of a century of ex¬ 
periences in the terra cotta busi¬ 
ness, there is one contract in 
particular which stands out dis¬ 
tinctly from the thousands of others—not 
because it was unusually large, for it was not, 
but because of the beauty of the building, the 
fame of the architect, and the fierce competi¬ 
tion for the order between the two leading 
Companies in the East. 

A pamphlet published in 1855 by Moses 
Yale Beach, then proprietor of the “New York 
Sun,” on the “Wealthy Men of New York,” 



107 













THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


records the names of nineteen citizens who in 
the estimation of well qualified judges at that 
date possessed more than a million dollars 
each. In that list the elder Cornelius Vander¬ 
bilt, generally known as the “Commodore,” 
is accredited with a paltry million and a half. 
In 1865, Vanderbilt’s fortune, consisting 
chiefly of a fleet of steamboats, amounted to 
about ten millions. He died twelve years 
later in 1877, leaving over one hundred mil¬ 
lion dollars, the first of those colossal Ameri¬ 
can fortunes that were destined to astound the 
world. 

Vanderbilt was one of the most romantic 
figures in the history of American finance, and 
the work that he did remains as a part of our 
economic organization today. Born in 1794, 
he was seventy-one years of age in 1865, when 
the real work of his life began. At the close of 
the Civil War, a trip from New York to Chi¬ 
cago meant that the passenger changed cars 
seventeen times, and that all freight had to be 
unloaded in the same number of places, carted 
across towns and reloaded into other trains. 
By 1868 the Commodore had acquired the 


108 


THE ROMANCE OF A CONTRACT 

Hudson River Railroad extending from New 
York to Albany, the New York Central extend¬ 
ing from Albany to Buffalo, and the Lake 
Shore which ran from Buffalo to Chicago, and 
cut down the running time from New York to 
Chicago from fifty to twenty-four hours. His 
great fortune was made by engineering large 
stock-watering operations, and taking advan¬ 
tage of inside information to make huge win¬ 
nings on the stock exchange. 

In its original estate the Madison Square 
Garden was the station of the Harlem Rail¬ 
road, in those almost forgotten days when the 
Harlem was a formidable rival of the Hudson 
River for traffic to Albany. The trains at that 
time came to 42nd Street by steam, where the 
cars were uncoupled and drawn by horse 
power through the Park Avenue tunnel, now 
used by the “green cars, ,, down Fourth Avenue 
to the terminus at 26th Street. The only pas¬ 
senger station of the Hudson River road was 
then at 30th Street and Tenth Avenue. 

In 1871 the first Grand Central Station was 
finished, at that time considered to be the last 
word in railway architecture, but almost as 


109 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

ugly in reality as the Government Post Office 
down town. When the new terminal was 
opened the old passenger station was aban¬ 
doned. The building was remodelled, and 
used for the annual Horse Show, BarnunTs 
Circus and similar attractions. It was at one 
time called Gilmore’s Garden, because of a 
series of popular concerts given there under 
the direction of the famous band-master P. S. 
Gilmore. 

In 1889, J. Pierpont Morgan, Charles Lanier, 
Darius 0. Mills, Charles Crocker, and a num¬ 
ber of other wealthy and public-spirited citi¬ 
zens, formed a syndicate to purchase the site 
and erect the present Madison Square Garden, 
and Stanford White, of the well-known firm of 
McKim, Mead and White, was selected as the 
architect. 

Stanford White was a man of unusual force, 
a personality of rare power. In advance of 
any of his contemporaries, he inaugurated a 
revolution in, American architecture, which in 
a few years reached and influenced the whole 
nation. Art in any of its forms requires the 


no 


THE ROMANCE OF A CONTRACT 

co-operation of many minds and many hands. 
Stanford White was just the man to become a 
leader in a movement of that kind. He had 
the vitality of a giant, the divine gift of a 
Disraeli or a Roosevelt for making himself 
known and talked about. It takes a certain 
kind of talent to do these things. Popularity is 
a gift, but it is also a profession. White had 
the flair of the born actor for finding the centre 
of the lime-light. Not a day passed without 
the public hearing something new about him. 
His flaming red head was in evidence on every 
occasion. For the last twenty years of his life 
he was the predominating influence not only 
in architecture but in everything connected 
with the arts of design and decoration. He 
was the greatest designer that this country has 
ever produced, and yet after all he was rather 
an adapter and interpreter than an originator. 
By a rare stroke of good fortune he was pro¬ 
fessionally associated with two men of oppo¬ 
site mental types—with Charles F. McKim, 
an artist, and William R. Mead, a master- 
builder. To the firm of McKim, Mead and 
White, American architecture and architec- 


lll 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

tural terra cotta owe an impetus which is felt 
even to the present day. 

The Perth Amboy Company, as related else¬ 
where, had been the outgrowth of an old fire¬ 
brick concern, and the manufacture of bricks 
continued for many years to constitute a large 
part of its business. The bricks were mostly 
of two kinds: a long thin mottled brick burned 
in the old open kilns and known as “Pom¬ 
peian,” and a regular sized face brick of a rich 
buff color, burned in the muffled kilns. Wil¬ 
liam C. Hall used to relate with great glee how 
he had bought an old church down in Jersey 
for the sake of the vein of fine buff clay under¬ 
lying it, and from this clay bed nearly all of 
their buff clay was drawn for many years. 
The representatives of the Company used as 
a leading sales argument the fact that only the 
Perth Amboy Company could furnish for a 
building both bricks and terra cotta made of 
the same clay, thus insuring absolute uniform¬ 
ity of color. This advantage undoubtedly ap¬ 
pealed to the artistic sense and taste of a man 


112 







































MADISON SQUARE. GARDLN 







THE ROMANCE OF A CONTRACT 


like Stanford White, and for many years Perth 
Amboy secured all of his contracts. 

In this connection the following sketch, 
written by Mr. Putnam, is of interest: 

“When the Perth Amboy Company secured 
the contract for the terra cotta for the Post 
Building in 1882, they were also given the 
contract for the buff brick to match the terra 
cotta. These were the first front brick manu¬ 
factured by the Company, and notwithstand¬ 
ing the long experience the management had 
had in the manufacture of fire brick, the same 
difficulty occurred of pink color as in the terra 
cotta. Later, in 1883, this difficulty having 
been overcome, the Company was awarded the 
contract for the buff terra cotta and buff brick 
in the Metropolitan Opera House. 

“In 1886, a ‘Telephone' brick was made to 
match the terra cotta in the Telephone Build¬ 
ing, and these bricks were used in a number 
of buildings, the most prominent being the 
New Netherland Hotel, Fifth Avenue and 69th 
Street. 

“About this time ‘Pompeian' and ‘Old 
Gold' brick were brought out to match terra 
cotta of these shades and for several years 
there was an excellent and growing demand. 


113 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


Then other manufacturers placed on the mar¬ 
ket an imitation made by spraying on the sur¬ 
face granulated manganese, that gave a simi¬ 
lar, though greatly inferior, appearance. This 
finally led to a decreased demand. 

“Finally, with increasing competition, and 
lower prices on the buff and other Terra cotta’ 
brick, the Perth Amboy Company decided to 
discontinue the manufacture of brick, except¬ 
ing in cases where specified, as were the glazed 
brick in the New York ‘Times’ Building, Times 
Square.” 

This situation led the Directors of the New 
York Company, soon after it was organized, 
to seriously consider also going into the manu¬ 
facture of face bricks on a large scale. At 
that time, a new brick press had been invented 
by an old Army officer, residing at Wilming¬ 
ton, Delaware, who had commanded a regi¬ 
ment of cavalry on the Union side during the 
Civil War. He was a kind of “Colonel Sel¬ 
lers,” and succeeded in impressing men who 
knew nothing about the clay business with a 
sense of his information on the subject. At 
Washington, he organized the National Press 


114 


THE ROMANCE OF A CONTRACT 


Brick Company, in which he succeeded in 
interesting a number of prominent men, includ¬ 
ing E. Francis Riggs, the President of the old 
Riggs Bank, Joseph K. McKammon, a leading 
lawyer, Asahel C. Geer, a retired business man 
spending his winters in Washington, and Dr. 
M. L. Ruth, a surgeon holding high rank in 
the United States Navy. 

Dr. Ruth at that time was a very handsome, 
striking looking man of about forty, with iron 
gray hair and moustache, and endowed with 
a most captivating personality. It is hardly 
too much to say that he was loved by every 
man, woman and child who knew him, and 
that by the fair sex in particular he was simply 
adored. Ruth, who knew nothing about the 
brick business, was made Manager of the new 
Company, and the others interested, with the 
Colonel, made up the Board of Directors. A 
plant was established near the Virginia end 
of the Long Bridge opposite Washington. 
Some of the Directors of the New York Com¬ 
pany were in favor of adopting the new brick 
machines, but, fortunately for the Company, 
wiser counsels prevailed. The National Com- 


115 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


pany soon failed and the stock-holders lost 
their entire investment. Ruth then became 
the Washington Agent of the New York 
Company, and two young men who had been 
connected with the brick concern, Otto C. 
Reinecke and Harry J. Lucas, were given 
positions with the New York Company, which 
they held for many years. 

When the Madison Square contract came 
up, Dr. Ruth was called upon to assist the New 
York Company in securing the order. One 
of his first steps was to arrange a theatre and 
supper party in Washington, at which the 
guests were the great New York Architect, 
General Harry Bingham, Member of Congress 
from Philadelphia, and Walter Geer. A box 
was secured at the old National Theatre on E 
Street near Willard’s Hotel. The play was 
“Pygmalion and Galatea,” and the role of the 
lovely statue was taken by Mary Anderson, 
then in the height of her youth and beauty. 

After the theatre there was a supper at Har¬ 
vey’s. Harvey had come to Washington short¬ 
ly before the War, and opened a little oyster 
bar. His great specialty was steamed oysters, 


116 


THE ROMANCE OF A CONTRACT 

served in the shell, and eaten with melted but¬ 
ter seasoned with salt and pepper. He soon 
made a fortune, and built an oyster palace on 
the south side of the Avenue. That evening 
there were only three courses and only three 
drinks, but let no one imagine that the party 
went home either hungry or thirsty. After 
the cocktails there was served to each a peck 
of steamed oysters. The second course was 
diamond-back terrapin a la Maryland Club, 
and cooked according to the recipe of that 
celebrated home of good-living. This was 
followed by canvas-back ducks, roasted to a 
turn, so that when carved “the blood followed 
the knife,” as “Colonel Carter” would say. 
With these two courses each guest was served 
with a bottle of Ruinart, and of old Chateau 
Lafitte from the cellars of the Metropolitan 
Club. 

A little later, Dr. Ruth came over to New 
York, where he arranged an interview with 
Frank Hopkinson Smith, a great friend of the 
Architect, as well as of Ruth. The conference 
took place at Smith’s office in a downtown sky¬ 
scraper near Wall Street. Smith was a most 


117 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

charming man, and one of the most versatile 
ever known. Besides being a great engineer 
and light-house builder, he was a painter and 
author, and one of the best readers of his own 
works known since the days of Charles 
Dickens. 

At this stage of the game, Hall began to 
wake up and take notice. In the words of the 
Irish Member of Parliament who said “I smell 
a rat, I see it floating in the air, but I will nip 
it in the bud,” Hall decided that something 
must be done and done quickly. So he invited 
Geer out to luncheon and exhausted his stock 
of arguments in the endeavor to persuade him 
to give up the fight, but to no avail. Finally, 
the day the bids were to go out, he called up 
on the telephone and made a flat offer of a 
bonus of ten thousand dollars, to be paid the 
day the contract was signed. This too was 
declined, and he cut his price on the job twenty 
thousand dollars and secured the contract. 
This short telephone conversation cost one of 
the parties ten and the other twenty thousand 
dollars—certainly one of the most expensive 
calls on record. 


118 


THE ROMANCE OF A CONTRACT 

Apart from the tower, the Madison Square 
Garden cannot be called a great success. It 
is a translation in terra cotta of an enrichment 
in carved stone. The architect subsequently 
attained a much greater power of effective 
design in terra cotta than he showed here. In 
the Parkhurst Church you find precisely the 
freshness and zest of craftsmanship, of work¬ 
ing in the given material, which you miss here. 
But it was upon the tower that the author con¬ 
centrated his enthusiasm. When new it was 
acclaimed as the greatest thing that had been 
done in Art for centuries. Of course this was 
extravagant praise, for after all it was a repro¬ 
duction rather than an adaptation of the cele¬ 
brated Giralda at Seville. But although it has 
since been overborne and belittled by the mass 
and weight of the Metropolitan, the tower of 
the Garden still remains an object of unsur¬ 
passed beauty and grace, an ornament to the 
city which it would be not only a pity but a 
shame to permit to be pulled down. 

Over thirty years have rolled by since the 
events just narrated took place, and all but 


119 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

one of the actors in this little drama have made 
their final exit from the stage of life. The first 
to go was Dr. Ruth, who died at Trouville, 
France, in December, 1896. Nearly ten years 
later, in June, 1906, the brilliant Architect 
met his end at the hand of a cowardly degen¬ 
erate in the place with which his name has 
become so closely and tragically connected. 
William C. Hall, after suffering a stroke of 
paralysis in 1903, from which he never fully 
recovered, died at his home in West 9th Street 
in June, 1911. The next to go, in March, 1912, 
was General Harry Bingham, at that time the 
oldest Member of Congress in point of service, 
and affectionately known as the “Father of 
the House.” Finally, in April, 1915, came the 
last call for Frank Hopkinson Smith, engineer, 
painter, author, lecturer, who will perhaps be 
best remembered as the builder of the great 
Race Rock Lighthouse, off New London. 


120 


CHAPTER VIII 

THE MANHATTAN COMPANY 

HE palmy days of the Second 
Brown Association were of short 
duration. Within a period of 
a few years, in place of the three 
Companies which had been 
eliminated from active competition there 
sprung up no less than seven new concerns: 
Standard (1890), White (1892), Staten 
Island and New Jersey (1893), Excelsior 
(1894), Conkling-Armstrong (1895), and 
Corning (1896), and the general business 
conditions were, if possible, worse than before. 

At that time there was located on Staten 
Island a concern known as the Staten Island 
Lumber Company. After sinking a large sum 



121 
















THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


of money, it had proved unsuccessful and was 
in the hands of Bacot and Record, as receivers. 
George L. Record, who has since become well 
known as a candidate for the United States 
Senate, and as the great “Bull-Mooser” of the 
State of New Jersey, was at that time a young 
and rising lawyer of Jersey City. One day 
in the Winter of 1896, Record called on Wal¬ 
ter Geer at his office in the Potter Building and 
outlined a plan which he had formed for 
a new Terra Cotta Association. The plan 
looked attractive and feasible, so Geer invited 
Record to lunch with him at the Lawyers Club 
in the old Equitable Building, to meet William 
C. Hall. At this luncheon, and at many subse¬ 
quent meetings at the same place, at which 
the other Companies were represented, the 
plan was worked out in detail and finally 
agreed to. A company was formed, known 
as the Manhattan Material Company, which 
was incorporated under the laws of the State 
of New York, with a capital of $10,000 paid 
in in cash, the stock being subscribed by the 
different Companies in proportions mutually 
agreed upon. The Manhattan Company was 


122 


THE MANHATTAN COMPANY 


to act as the General Sales Agency of the vari¬ 
ous Companies interested, and entered into 
contracts with the different Companies indi¬ 
vidually, agreeing to turn over to each Com¬ 
pany a certain percentage of the total amount 
of orders secured by said Manhattan Com¬ 
pany, these percentages being the same as the 
percentage of stock held by each Company. 
In case the Manhattan Company for any 
reason could not assign to any individual Com¬ 
pany its exact quota of orders, it agreed to pay 
in cash a bonus of twenty per cent of the 
amount of such deficit, and any Company 
receiving more than its quota agreed to pay to 
the Manhattan Company a similar amount by 
way of penalty. 

The offices of the Manhattan Company were 
in the Mission Building at 285 Fourth Avenue. 
The Clerk was Thomas Van Every, and his 
assistant was Harry Lee King, who is now an 
officer of the Federal Company. The Com¬ 
pany began business on the first of April, 1896, 
with five-year contracts with the following 
Member Companies, namely: Perth Amboy, 
New York, Standard, Excelsior and Conkling. 


123 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


Later on the White and New Jersey Com¬ 
panies became members. 

In February, 1892, the Partridge, Powell and 
Storer Company was formed for the purpose 
of making face bricks. Land was purchased 
and a plant erected at Rocky Hill, New Jersey, 
near Princeton. Two years later the Company 
was incorporated as the Excelsior Terra Cotta 
Company. The President was Isaac A. Hop¬ 
per, a prominent New York builder, and the 
General Manager was William Henry Powell. 
“Harry” Powell, as he was generally known 
in those days, had commenced as a boy in the 
terra cotta business, in a minor position with 
the Perth Amboy Company, and had later 
become assistant to Oswald Speir in the New 
York office. His advancement was slow but 
sure; but on account of his youth few of his 
associates then realized the great ability which 
he possessed, and which he was to demon¬ 
strate in such a striking manner in later years. 
During the present century he has become the 
dominating influence in the business in the 
East. Mr. Powell has contributed the follow¬ 
ing history of the Excelsior Company: 


124 


THE MANHATTAN COMPANY 


The Excelsior Company 

“The Partridge, Powell and Storer Com¬ 
pany was incorporated under the laws of New 
Jersey in February, 1892, and built a plant at 
Rocky Hill, Somerset County, New Jersey, for 
the manufacture of buff face brick. Nelson 
H. Partridge and William H. Powell had been 
up to that time employes of the Perth Amboy 
Terra Cotta Company. Colonel John N. Part¬ 
ridge was President; Nelson H. Partridge, 
Vice-President; William H. Powell, Secretary 
and General Manager, and William B. Storer, 
Treasurer. Its first order was for the brick to 
line the entire interior of the 23rd Regiment 
Armory, Bedford Avenue and Pacific Street, 
Brooklyn, and for those days it was a large 
one. In February, 1893, the entire plant, ex¬ 
clusive of the kilns, was destroyed by fire. It 

-a* 

was immediately rebuilt. The year 1893 was 
one of severe business depression, and the lack 
of demand for the product, coupled with the 
losses due to the fire, resulted in such serious 
embarrassment that the Company’s future 
looked very dark as the year drew to a close. 

Just at this time the health of Nelson Part¬ 
ridge became impaired and he went to Colo¬ 
rado to reside. Something had to be done. 
In the early part of this year, in an effort to 


125 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


increase our income, I had visited Chicago and 
interviewed Fritz Wagner with the object of 
obtaining the eastern agency of the North¬ 
western Terra Cotta Company. Mr. Wagner 
declined to take advantage of the glowing 
opportunity I presented to him. Later I tried 
to induce Harry Stephens, of Philadelphia, to 
let us represent his company in New York. 
This effort was likewise unsuccessful. As it 
was apparent that no agency arrangement 
could be made with anyone, it was evident 
that if we wanted to get in the terra cotta busi¬ 
ness we would have to become manufacturers 
ourselves. Fortunately, our four kilns were 
excellent muffle type kilns and we had ample 
and satisfactory machinery for clay prepara¬ 
tion, and good tunnel dryers, but that was all. 
We had no suitable buildings and were with¬ 
out any working capital. I had a slight 
acquaintance with Isaac A. Hopper, at that 
time one of the leading builders in New York, 
and concluded to interest him in the enter¬ 
prise. After several weeks of negotiation Mr. 
Hopper bought a small amount of treasury 
stock and took an option on sufficient other 
stock from the existing holders to give him 
control of the Company. Later on he exer¬ 
cised this option. Just about this time the 


126 


THE MANHATTAN COMPANY 


Perth Amboy and New York Companies pur¬ 
chased the Boston Terra Cotta Company, with 
the intention of discontinuing its business. 
Learning of this, I immediately went to Bos¬ 
ton and secured the services of Louis M. 
Schindler, the Superintendent of the Boston 
works, and whom I had known during his 
term as Superintendent of the Perth Amboy 
Terra Cotta Company. Previous to his em¬ 
ployment by the Perth Amboy Company he 
had been with H. A. Lewis at South Boston, 
coming to Perth Amboy at the time of the 
purchase of the Lewis business in 1887 and 
remaining there for several years. I had a 
very high opinion of Mr. Schindler’s ability 
and in order to obtain him had no hesitation 
in paying him a salary twice as large as I drew 
as General Manager. This confidence was 
fully justified, for much of the subsequent suc¬ 
cess of the Company was due to his splendid 
handling of the manufacturing operations. 

“The name of the Company was changed 
in February, 1894, to Excelsior Terra Cotta 
Company. Mr. Hopper became President; 
Colonel Partridge, Vice-President, and I was 
made Secretary and Treasurer and also acted 
as General Manager. Our first contract was 
the addition to the Carnegie Music Hall, 56th 


127 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


Street and Seventh Avenue, and we obtained 
it from Mr. Hopper. He had built the original 
building and the New York Company had sup¬ 
plied the terra cotta. When he received their 
bid on the addition he thought they were hold¬ 
ing him up. Although I did not know it at the 
time, it subsequently transpired that it was on 
account of this that he decided to become in¬ 
terested in the business. I recall very well his 
glee in relating to me how, after writing the 
New York Company that the contract had 
been awarded to the Excelsior Company, New 
York’s representative had immediately called 
on him to find out who the Excelsior Company 
was. Hopper had taken great pleasure in 
replying that it was his company. The whole 
matter had been kept so quiet that the first 
knowledge our competitors had of the exist¬ 
ence of the new company was the notice of 
the award of the contract. Fortunately, al¬ 
though the color of the original work was 
somewhat unusual, we had no difficulty in 
matching it, and successfully executed the 
order, although we had to operate under ad¬ 
verse conditions. The only building we had 
suitable for plaster shop and for pressing was 
an open shed without floor, used for drying 
brick. We boarded up the sides, put in some 


128 










QfiyjriA^s 



THE MANHATTAN COMPANY 


steam pipes, laid down some plank for the 
model makers to stand on, so that they would 
not get cold feet, and turned out our first terra 
cotta on boards on the earth. 

“We went along during 1894 taking some 
few orders and adding slightly to our equip¬ 
ment and showing a small profit. Our chance 
came in 1895. About the first of the year Mr. 
Hopper secured the contract for the New York 
Commercial Buildings, Broadway, Washing¬ 
ton and Waverly Places and Mercer Street. 
It was a very large building for the time, conse¬ 
quently a terra cotta contract of size and im¬ 
portance, and was designed by Robert May- 
nicke, who had just left the office of George 
B. Post, and it was his first commission. Nat¬ 
urally Mr. Hopper gave us the business. Mr. 
Maynicke knew terra cotta thoroughly, and 
was an agreeable man to work for. During 
the progress of the work he related to me an 
incident in connection with the Long Island 
Historical Society Building, Clinton and Pier- 
pont Streets, Brooklyn, which is perhaps 
worthy of preservation. It was the first terra 
cotta contract of importance in what is now 
Greater New York, and I think may be con¬ 
sidered as the starting point of the terra cotta 
business in the East. George B. Post was the 


129 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


architect. The terra cotta had been ordered 
from Loring, who had a small plant in South 
Boston. No terra cotta and no satisfaction 
could be obtained from Loring and the build¬ 
ing was badly delayed. Mr. Maynicke went 
on to Boston to see what could be done about 
it. An examination of the work in the shop 
convinced him that it could not be success¬ 
fully handled. He asked to see the architect’s 
working drawings, carefully examined them 
to see if all were there, rolled them up, put 
them under his arm, said ‘Good day/ and 
walked out, came back to New York, and gave 
the order to the Perth Amboy Company. They 
handled it so successfully that Mr. Post, who 
liked terra cotta immensely, was encouraged 
to use a large amount of terra cotta in the new 
Produce Exchange, and later in practically all 
of the large buildings which he designed. At 
the same time that we secured the Commercial 
Building contract we obtained from Mr. Hop¬ 
per a good sized contract at Sixth Avenue and 
10th Street, Ralph S. Townsend, architect. 
Evidently this state of affairs alarmed our 
worthy competitors, for shortly afterward we 
were invited to send representatives to a din¬ 
ner of terra cotta manufacturers held at the 
Arena, a restaurant in West 31st Street, kept 


130 


THE MANHATTAN COMPANY 


by William C. Muschenheim, later of the Hotel 
Astor. Colonel Partridge, Mr. Hopper and I 
attended. Mr. W. C. Hall presided, and as I 
recall it now, in addition to Messrs. Lewis, 
Speir and Geer, some people were there from 
the Fiske concern (The Boston Fire Brick 
Works), and the Standard Terra Cotta Com¬ 
pany. The ostensible object of the dinner was 
to discuss the serious situation due to ‘excess’ 
capacity, and to admonish the younger com¬ 
panies not to make such low prices. After the 
latter had been properly impressed with the 
gravity of the situation, the real object of the 
gathering was disclosed, and we were invited 
to join the Association. A few days later an¬ 
other meeting was held at the Reform Club, 
27th Street and Fifth Avenue, and the details 
were arranged to the satisfaction of all con¬ 
cerned. We were at last recognized as a full- 
fledged competitor. 

“Each year we extended the plant and in¬ 
creased our output and made money. After 
we changed from brick to terra cotta the only 
new money put into the concern was repre¬ 
sented by the small amount of treasury stock 
purchased by Hopper. The capital stock was 
never increased: everything was provided for 
out of earnings. The Spanish War year, 1898, 


131 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

was a little slow, but with that exception from 
1895 to the close of 1906 business was good. 

“In the early part of 1905 I purchased Mr. 
Hopper’s stock and became ^President. In 
January, 1907, the Company became a part of 
the new Atlantic Terra Cotta Company. 

“The principal buildings for which terra 
cotta was furnished by the Excelsior Com¬ 
pany were: New York Commercial Buildings, 
Broadway, Waverly Place, Washington Place 
and Mercer Street, New York City; Commer¬ 
cial Cable Building, Broad Street, New York 
City; Government Printing Office, Washing¬ 
ton, District of Columbia; Office Building, 42 
Broadway, New York City; United Gas Im¬ 
provement Company’s Office Building, Broad 
and Arch Streets, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; 
St. Ambrose Roman Catholic Church, Tomp¬ 
kins Avenue, near DeKalb Avenue, Brooklyn, 
New York. 

“The St. Ambrose Church was erected short¬ 
ly after the Parkhurst Church, and the archi¬ 
tect in designing it was influenced by the lat¬ 
ter. Now that the Parkhurst Church has been 
demolished, it is interesting to note that St. 
Ambrose Church is the oldest example in the 
East, and so far as I know, in the whole coun¬ 
try, of an elaborate glazed polychrome exte- 


132 


THE MANHATTAN COMPANY 

rior. The architecture used in this edifice is 
more elaborate from the color standpoint than 
was the case in the Parkhurst Church.” 

In November, 1894, Conkling and Arm¬ 
strong sold their interest in Stephens, Arm¬ 
strong and Conkling to the two Stephens 
brothers, and withdrew from the firm. At the 
end of the year, they also resigned their posi¬ 
tions with the New York Company and went 
to Bermuda for a vacation. From their island 
retreat they came back a few weeks later, like 
Napoleon from Elba, to resume their terra 
cotta crowns, but in this case, not for a short 
hundred days, but for many years of success 
and prosperity. In January, 1895, they incor¬ 
porated the Conkling-Armstrong Terra Cotta 
Company, of which Ira Conkling became Presi¬ 
dent and Tom Armstrong, Treasurer. Edward 
Conkling was Vice-President and Samuel 
Conkling the Superintendent, so it was another 
family concern. A plot of over three acres 
was purchased at Wissahickon Avenue and 
Juanita Street (Nicetown), Philadelphia, and 
a large plant was erected. The new Company 


133 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


was successful from the start, and for many 
years now has been one of the most prominent 
in the business. 

The New Jersey Company, which became a 
member of the Manhattan Material Company 
in January, 1897, began business in 1888 under 
the firm name of Mathiasen and Hansen. 
Karl Mathiasen was then a young man about 
thirty years of age, a Dane by birth, who had 
had considerable practical experience in the 
New York and other plants. The two men, 
however, had much more experience than 
money, and at first did not meet with much 
success, mainly for lack of sufficient capital. 
In 1893 they incorporated the New Jersey 
Terra Cotta Company. Since then their career 
has been one of uninterrupted success. The 
officers of the Company since the start have 
been Karl Mathiasen, President, and E. V. 
Eskesen, Treasurer. L. B. Eskesen was Vice- 
President until his death, 11 December, 1914. 

The following interesting story of the New 
Jersey Terra Cotta Company has been fur¬ 
nished by E. V. Eskesen: 


134 


THE MANHATTAN COMPANY 
The New Jersey Company 

“The plant is located at 2 Catherine Street, 
Perth Amboy, New Jersey; the office is in the 
Singer Building, New York City. The Com¬ 
pany was organized in New Jersey, 26 Novem¬ 
ber, 1893. It succeeded the partnership of 
Karl Mathiasen and Otto E. Hansen which was 
established in 1888. 

“The business was started in a very small 
way on a plot 75 by 100 feet, with one kiln 
which was home-made. There was no engine 
power and the clay was pugged in a pit, with 
a pole and a mule to pull it. 

“The first order taken by Mr. Mathiasen was 
for a stable in East 100th Street. The color 
should have been buff but unfortunately it 
came out black from the kiln. The usual rem¬ 
edy of those days for fixing such errors was 
applied. The partnership never received a 
cent for this job as the contractor failed. Both 
Mathiasen and Hansen were practical terra 
cotta men who had worked their way up in 
the industry. As soon as the plant was on a 
going basis, engines and kilns and new build¬ 
ings were added. 

“On 12 June, 1894, the plant of the Company 
was entirely destroyed by fire. Nothing but 
the kilns were left. The Company at that time 


135 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


had what would be considered several good 
contracts on hand, but it was impossible imme¬ 
diately to rebuild the plant, especially when it 
was considered that the mortgagee collected 
the insurance and nothing but the aforesaid 
kilns were left. In order therefore not to can¬ 
cel the contracts on hand, the officers of the 
Company rented an old face brick plant located 
at Pasadena, New Jersey, and made several 
changes in same so as to make it adaptable for 
manufacturing terra cotta. Part of the work¬ 
ing force of the Company, mostly consisting 
of men related to either the Mathiasens or the 
Eskesens, was transferred to Pasadena, and 
worked there during the summer months turn¬ 
ing out the terra cotta for several buildings in 
New York City, mainly apartment houses and 
loft buildings, many of which are still stand¬ 
ing. The place was soon found inadequate 
and too far out of the way, and was given up 
in the fall of 1894. The plant in Perth Amboy 
had then again been partly rebuilt and work 
had been resumed. It was found in the Spring 
of 1895 that contracts could be obtained for 
more work than the Company was able to take 
care of, and Karl Mathiasen, together with the 
four Eskesen brothers and P. S. Sondergaard, 
formed the Karl Mathiasen Company. This 


136 
















































/ 







THE MANHATTAN COMPANY 

Company in April, 1895, rented part of the old 
brick plant of the Walton Buff Brick Company 
in Trenton. The Company started with very 
little capital but with a surplus of energy and 
working capacity. 

“It was found at the end of the year that 
the Company in the eight months of its exist¬ 
ence had accumulated a profit of about $3,500, 
which was considered a fine result. The stock¬ 
holders, therefore, in view of this splendid 
financial showing, met in Trenton on New 
Year’s eve, 1896, for a grand dinner, where 
champagne flowed freely. 

“The next day a telegram was received 
stating that the terra cotta for a school build¬ 
ing in Brooklyn had been condemned, the con¬ 
tract amounting to about $4,000. All the 
terra cotta had been made and nothing paid, 
and the year’s profit had therefore been more 
than wiped out. This was sad news after the 
jolly New Year’s eve party. A visit to the 
building and an interview with the inspector 
and the contractor did not make things look 
better. The stuff was ‘rotten’ and had to be 
taken out. After all other resources had 
failed, Mathiasen went and saw his friend, 
James Taylor, who at that time was living in 
retirement on his farm at Monmouth, New 


137 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


Jersey. Taylor, ever willing to help his friend 
Mathiasen, responded to the call. After two 
or three visits to the school building, at which 
he had with him a couple of mechanics, Taylor 
went and saw the inspector and the contractor, 
and in his usual persuasive and taking way 
soon convinced the inspector that the terra 
cotta was up to specifications and the best ever 
made. This was a great relief to the young 
Company. The balance of the terra cotta was 
delivered, and set in the building without fur¬ 
ther trouble, and paid for in full. 

“The old pottery at Trenton was soon found 
too small for the amount of work handled, and 
in the Summer of 1896 the Company acquired 
the old plant of the Rue Pottery Company 
located at Matawan, New Jersey. The first 
kiln was fired in the Fall of 1896. The name 
was then changed to Matawan Terra Cotta 
Company. 

“Returning to the New Jersey Terra Cotta 
Company, which was incorporated in Novem¬ 
ber, 1893: Eckardt V. Eskesen, who entered 
the Company on 1 May, 1894, was, in January, 
1896, elected Director, Secretary and Treas¬ 
urer. In 1899 Otto H. Hansen retired as a 
stockholder, and the New Jersey Terra Cotta 
Company then bought out the Matawan Terra 


138 


THE MANHATTAN COMPANY 

Cotta Company. B. K. Eskesen and L. B. 
Eskesen, and P. S. Sondergaard thereby be¬ 
came stockholders and directors in the New 
Jersey Terra Cotta Company. Of these, L. 
Bojenhardt Eskesen, as Vice-President of the 
Company, took active part in the management 
up to his death 11 December, 1914. 

“During these and the following years the 
Company created and maintained a large mar¬ 
ket in supplying terra cotta fronts for tene¬ 
ment houses on the East Side of New York. 
The building of tenement houses for this part 
of New York was very active during these 
years. These operations, which had origi¬ 
nally been in the hands of Irish builders, and 
later on of Germans, drifted slowly into the 
hands of the Jews. The Company’s attention 
to this trade and its hold on the same was so 
strong that terra cotta was used on every build¬ 
ing going up on the East Side, and no operator 
thought it possible to use terra cotta made by 
any other company than the New Jersey. 

“On 8 September, 1912, a disastrous fire 
wiped out all of the buildings in which were 
located the pressing and plaster shops and 
part of the modelling and drafting rooms. The 
Company at that time had a large amount of 
contracts on hand. It immediately started 


139 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


erecting temporary sheds and rebuilding, and 
was able to continue work and complete its 
contracts without cancelling a large amount 
of the work on hand. 

“William N. Griswold, who first became 
connected with the Company in 1899, was 
made Superintendent in 1904. Karl Mathia- 
sen, Junior, the eldest son of the President, 
entered the service of the Company in 1914, 
and was elected Secretary in February, 1916.” 

The affairs of the Manhattan Company were 
always well managed, and for several years 
it had great success. But, as the Philadelphia 
concern of Stephens, Armstrong and Conk- 
ling had proved to be the bete-noire of the 
First Brown Association, so De Forest Grant, 
with his new Atlantic Company, played the 
same role with the Manhattan Company, and 
this time the “black beast” proved to be a 
regular “Bull in a China Shop.” Grant had 
graduated from Yale in 1891, and not long 
after had begun his business career with the 
Staten Island Lumber Company. Here he got 
his first taste of that delightful Apple of the 
Hesperides, the terra cotta business, of which 


140 


THE MANHATTAN COMPANY 

if one once eats he is lost forever. When the 
Staten Island Company was finally wound up, 
Grant incorporated the Atlantic Terra Cotta 
Company in 1898, with a formidable list of 
Directors and Stockholders, all selected from 
the pages of the Social Register. The officers 
of the Company were: De Forest Grant, Presi¬ 
dent; W. H. Roome, Vice-President; R. T. 
Wainright, Secretary, and William Manice, 
Treasurer. A plot of ground was bought and 
a plant erected at Tottenville, Staten Island. 
Grant was asked to join the Manhattan Com¬ 
pany, but demanded such a large percentage 
that no agreement could be reached. 

About the same time further competition 
developed from a Corning concern. Archi¬ 
tectural terra cotta was first made in Corning 
in 1888 by Robright and Dorman, who were 
engaged at that time in general contracting 
and building and the manufacture of brick. 
The first terra cotta they produced was largely 
used in buildings erected by them, in connec¬ 
tion with their brick. In 1890 Morris E. Greg¬ 
ory entered the employment of the firm as 


141 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

bookkeeper and General Manager, which posi¬ 
tion he held until the Spring of 1896, when he 
purchased the interests of his former em¬ 
ployers and assumed entire charge of the busi¬ 
ness. At first Mr. Gregory did business under 
the name of Brick, Terra Cotta and Supply 
Company, but later assumed the name of 
Brick, Terra Cotta and Tile Company, M. E. 
Gregory, Proprietor. Gregory, who is a man 
of great energy and practical ability, made 
many improvements and soon put the busi¬ 
ness on a firm basis. Under his management 
the terra cotta business has maintained a 
steady growth. He is also a large manufac¬ 
turer of Vitrified Paving Block. The plant, 
which is located on the Pennsylvania Division 
of the New York Central Railroad, in the city 
of Corning, has been enlarged from time to 
time to meet the requirements of the business. 
Mr. Gregory’s son, M. Creveling Gregory, a 
graduate of Ohio State University, a Ceramic 
Engineer, is now associated with his father in 
the management of the business. 


142 


CHAPTER IX 

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 

FTER the dissolution of the Man¬ 
hattan Material Company on the 
first of April, 1901, there was no 
general Association between the 
Companies for a period of thir¬ 
teen months. During that time, however, the 
Perth Amboy and New York Companies main¬ 
tained a joint office at 150 Fifth Avenue, with 
Harry King as Clerk. 

During the Winter of 1902, there were nu¬ 
merous conferences at the residence of Wil¬ 
liam C. Hall, 52 West 9th Street, with a view to 
the formation of a new Association. Hall’s 
house was an old 30-foot, three-story mansion, 
originally built by the French Consul General 



143 












THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

at New York. The entrance was through a 
porte cochere into a drive-way from which the 
main door of the house opened on the right. In 
the rear of the house there was a square court 
or yard, back of which was a two-story stable, 
the first floor of which Hall had transformed 
into quite an attractive “den,” furnished with 
sofas and easy chairs, with rugs on the floor, 
and at one end a Pompeian brick and terra 
cotta mantel which would take a six-foot log. 

As the business was much demoralized from 
the excessive competition, all of the Compa¬ 
nies were anxious to form a new Association 
along the lines of the late Manhattan Mate¬ 
rial Company which had proved so satisfac¬ 
tory, but the great obstacle proved to be the 
percentage question, upon which it was impos¬ 
sible to agree. At last Henry Doscher of the 
Standard Company suggested an arrangement 
without fixed percentages, under which the 
profits should be divided upon the basis of a 
sliding scale determined by the amount of 
work taken by each Company during a certain 
period. This was finally agreed to, and cer¬ 
tainly no crazier scheme was ever adopted by 


144 










THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 


a crowd of sane business men. As George 
Putnam afterwards expressed it—the Com¬ 
panies might just as well have installed a rou¬ 
lette wheel and left the fate of the business to 
the decision of chance. 

This arrangement, which was known as the 
Terra Cotta Manufacturers Association, lasted 
from the ninth of May, 1902, to the first of 
April, 1904, when it was dissolved amidst gen¬ 
eral dissatisfaction. Probably the best ver¬ 
dict on this Association would be the epitaph 
upon a child’s tomb in a country grave-yard: 

“If I was so soon to be done for, 

I wonder what I was begun for.” 

The members of this Association were Perth 
Amboy, New York, Excelsior, Standard, New 
Jersey, Conkling-Armstrong, Atlantic and 
Corning. 

In April, 1903, during the existence of the 
Terra Cotta Manufacturers Association, was 
founded the South Amboy Terra Cotta Com¬ 
pany. The officers of the Company, since the 
start, have been Christian Mathiasen, Presi¬ 
dent and William Mathiasen, Vice-President, 


145 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


both being brothers of Karl Mathiasen of the 
New Jersey Company, and Peter C. Olsen, 
Treasurer. Olsen, although probably the 
youngest man of prominence in the business, 
has made the reputation in a few years of 
being one of its ablest and most level-headed 
men. The New Jersey and South Amboy 
Companies, which have always been closely 
affiliated, have recently become more strongly 
united through the Seaboard Clay Manufac¬ 
turing Company, although both Companies are 
still operated separately. 

In September, 1905, the Maryland Terra 
Cotta Company was formed to purchase the 
terra cotta business of the Burns-Russell Com¬ 
pany, which had manufactured a little terra 
cotta from time to time, but had never been 
very active in this branch of their business. 
The President of the new Company, John J. 
Kelly, and the Second Vice-President, Harry 
P. Boyd, occupied similar positions with the 
National Building Supply Company. The 
First Vice-President, C. W. Slagle, was a 
member of the Burns-Russell Company; 


146 


THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 

Alfred Tyler, the Treasurer, was the Balti¬ 
more Manager of the Hydraulic Pressed Brick 
Company, and W. F. Thyson, the General 
Manager, had been the Baltimore Agent of 
the Perth Amboy Company. Both Tyler and 
Thyson afterwards withdrew from the Com¬ 
pany. After struggling for several years, the 
Company discontinued business in 1915. 

In 1906, O. W. Ketcham, of Philadelphia, 
who had conducted a successful Builder’s Sup¬ 
ply business there for over ten years, acting 
also as local agent for several terra cotta com¬ 
panies, decided to build his own terra cotta 
plant and enter actively into the business. For 
this purpose he bought land at Crum Lynne, 
Pennsylvania, just north of Chester, and began 
the manufacture of terra cotta. He has made 
some very good work and has been very suc¬ 
cessful. 

The generally unsatisfactory conditions of 
the business continued to suggest various 
schemes for improving the situation. At this 
time the Government at Washington, under 
President Roosevelt’s Administration, had be- 


147 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


gun to vigorously enforce the Sherman Act, 
which had been adopted over ten years before, 
and Big Business for the first time realized 
that that law had teeth. As the Terra Cotta 
Manufacturers had no intention then, or at 
any other period, of acting contrary to the 
law, plans were laid in May, 1905, under ad¬ 
vice of able counsel, for the formation of a 
large corporation, which all of the principal 
companies in the East were asked to join. 

This Company, which was to be called the 
National Terra Cotta Company, was to have a 
capital of $4,000,000 in stock, and $1,000,000 
in bonds. It was to take over the business of 
the Perth Amboy, New York, Conkling-Arm- 
strong, Excelsior, Standard, Atlantic and New 
Jersey Companies. A prospectus was drawn 
up and submitted to the various Companies for 
their consideration. The plan was finally 
abandoned, but it led a year later to the found¬ 
ing of the great Atlantic Company. 

In February, 1907, the Atlantic Company 
was incorporated, combining the old Atlantic, 
Perth Amboy, Excelsior and Standard Com¬ 
panies. Later a controlling interest was also 


148 


THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 

acquired in the Atlanta Company, which, how¬ 
ever, has always been operated independently. 

The officers of the new Atlantic Company 
were: President, De Forest Grant (Atlantic); 
Vice-President, William H. Powell (Excel¬ 
sior) ; Treasurer, George P. Putnam (Perth 
Amboy); Secretary, Dwight W. Taylor (At¬ 
lantic). 

The Company had plants at Tottenville, 
Perth Amboy and Rocky Hill, besides the 
Atlanta works, and claimed to be the largest 
manufacturers of architectural terra cotta in 
the world. 

Unfortunately for the best interests of the 
business, the new combination failed to adopt 
the “live and let live” policy of the great 
United States Steel Corporation towards its 
weaker competitors, and during the first two 
years of its existence, owing partly to this pol¬ 
icy and partly to the general depression in the 
business following the panic of 1907, condi¬ 
tions were worse than before. 

During these two years, two separate efforts 
were made to combine the outside Companies. 
The first was a plan for the formation of a 


149 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

holding Company to include all of the Com¬ 
panies not in the Atlantic, under the name of 
the United States Terra Cotta Company. Later 
another attempt was made to combine the 
Atlantic and the outside Companies in a sim¬ 
ilar holding Company. Both of these efforts 
failed. 

Finally in January, 1909, owing to internal 
dissensions, and disagreements as to business 
policy, De Forest Grant and his followers 
withdrew from the Atlantic Company, and 
William H. Powell was elected President, 
George P. Putnam continuing as Treasurer. 

As soon as Grant left the Atlantic Company 
legal proceedings were begun to try and force 
a dissolution of the combination and a return 
of the old Atlantic Company to its former 
owners. There was an investigation of the 
whole matter by the Federal Grand Jury, and 
several legal actions, but the Atlantic Com¬ 
pany was victorious in every case. 

In November, 1909, Grant incorporated the 
Federal Terra Cotta Company with the follow¬ 
ing officers: De Forest Grant, President; Ed¬ 
win Thorne and William Manice, Vice-Presi- 


150 


THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 

dents; Frank Thayer, Treasurer, and D. W. 
Taylor, Secretary. The Company bought 
seventeen acres of land on Woodbridge Creek, 
known as the Cutler property, and at once 
built works there. With a new and well- 
equipped plant, and the experience gained by 
ten years in the business, the new management 
was successful from the start and has built 
up in a short time a very prosperous business. 

In May, 1910, an attempt was made to or¬ 
ganize a “Literary and Publicity Bureau,” the 
general idea of which was practically the same 
as set forth in the Second Section of Article 
Two of the Constitution of the National Terra 
Cotta Society, namely, to promote the interests 
of the terra cotta business through a general 
advertising campaign and the publication of 
books, pamphlets and other forms of trade lit¬ 
erature. Thomas Cusack was suggested for 
the head of the proposed Bureau. He had been 
for a number of years the Superintendent of 
the New York Company, and during that time 
had written some very able technical articles 
on terra cotta for the “Brick-Builder,” which 


151 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

had attracted considerable attention in the 
trade. Cusack had then retired from active 
business and returned to his old home in Eng¬ 
land, but he was sent for, and came over at 
the expense of the New York Company, which 
was very much interested in the plan. A cir¬ 
cular letter signed by Mr. Geer, Mr. Wagner, 
Mr. McBean and Mr. Armstrong, was sent to 
all of the Terra Cotta Manufacturers in the 
United States, inviting them to a conference 
in New York City during the month of June. 
In response to this invitation several meetings 
were held at the Manhattan Club at which 
most of the Companies were represented. 
Nothing came of the project, however, and it 
was finally abandoned. One of the causes of 
failure was undoubtedly the fact that the plan 
was not broad enough in its scope to make a 
general appeal to the Manufacturers. But 
although the attempt to bring the Companies 
together under this plan failed at that time, it 
no doubt had considerable bearing on the out¬ 
come of the very successful effort made a year 
later to organize the National Society, the 
story of which is told later on. 


152 




-* 4 - 








CHAPTER X 

THE CENTRAL COMPANIES 

•TER the unsuccessful attempt 
of Mr. Renwick, in 1853, to in¬ 
troduce terra cotta in New 
York, no more work was manu¬ 
factured there for nearly a 
quarter of a century. But in the West, a builder 
of Louisville, Kentucky, named J. N. Glover, 
began the manufacture on a very small scale 
about the year 1867. His method was to ob¬ 
tain a cast-iron model, make a mould of it in 
plaster of Paris, and then make of simple clay, 
tempered to a workable condition, an interior 
impression of the mould. This gave a clay 
copy of the iron model, which became of course 
reduced in size by the shrinkage of the clay in 



153 














THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


drying and burning. It was then painted out¬ 
side and pitched inside and sold to the build¬ 
ers—a clay imitation of an iron imitation of 
a cut stone. Glover, however, supplied a ma¬ 
terial necessity, imperfectly, perhaps, but 
nevertheless moving along the path leading to 
a better understanding of the uses of the 
material. 

Meeting with a fair measure of success, he 
soon moved his works to Indianapolis, Indi¬ 
ana, where there are very extensive clay de¬ 
posits in the Brazil coal mine region. This 
clay has to be excavated in order to obtain the 
coal and is therefore not very costly, while at 
the same time it is of a most excellent quality 
and burns a good buff color. 

The change of location led to a much larger 
demand for his terra cotta work, and in 1868, 
he sold his business to Hovey and Nichols, of 
Chicago, who in 1869 moved the works to that 
city. They found that to manufacture the 
work in Indianapolis and then ship it to Chi¬ 
cago, which was the chief market for its sale, 
was too costly, and that the clay and coal could 
be carried at less expense; also that delay was 


154 


THE CENTRAL COMPANIES 

avoided in the delivery of their product, by 
having the manufactory near the centre of 
delivery, where most of the work was to be 
used. 

In 1869, Hovey and Nichols organized the 
Chicago Terra Cotta Company with the fol¬ 
lowing officers: Samuel E. Barrett, Presi¬ 
dent; Sanford E. Loring, Treasurer; J. F. 
Nichols, Secretary, and J. N. Glover, Super¬ 
intendent. 

Being anxious to extend their operations, 
Nichols went to Europe and engaged Signor 
G. Meli to come to Chicago to assist in the 
development of the works. Meli made several 
handsome designs for vases and statues, but 
as these were in the line of art, rather than of 
architecture, they did not find a ready sale, 
and caused a loss to the Company. What the 
West wanted at that time was an economical 
and useful building material, and failing to 
furnish this in a practical manner, the Com¬ 
pany soon found its capital gone and itself in 
debt. This Company had followed in the foot¬ 
steps of its predecessors, using cast iron as 
models and making clay copies. 


155 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


In 1870, Loring not being satisfied with the 
quality of the material they were turning out, 
and feeling confident that the failure to make 
better work came from ignorance, and not 
from lack of merit in the material, opened 
correspondence with Mr. Blashfield, the well- 
known English manufacturer. This corre¬ 
spondence was referred to James Taylor, then 
Superintendent of Blashfield’s works, who had 
already arranged to leave England for the 
United States. On Taylor’s arrival in this 
country he visited the works at Chicago, and 
the result was that the Chicago Company was 
reorganized in August, 1870, as the Chicago 
Terra Cotta Works, with James Taylor as 
Superintendent. The old Roman open-fire 
kilns were replaced with Blashfield’s muffled 
kilns, and new methods were introduced for 
the preparation of clay and manufacture of 
finished stock, similar to those used in Blash¬ 
field’s works at Stamford, England. With 
these changes, and with the increased facili¬ 
ties which were introduced, the Chicago Works 
were enabled to furnish a much better class 
of architectural terra cotta. 


156 


THE CENTRAL COMPANIES 

Among the able young men who became 
connected with the first Chicago Works dur¬ 
ing this period were: 

John R. True, formerly a hardware clerk 
at Augusta, Maine, who was Shipping and 
Time Clerk; 

Gustav Hottinger, of Vienna, an ivory car¬ 
ver, who was a modeller; 

John Brunkhorst, of Charlottenburg (Ber¬ 
lin), a terra cotta stove maker, who was fore¬ 
man clay worker, and 

Henry Rohkam, a flower pot maker, who 
was a clay finisher. 

All these men were faithful and industrious 
workers, and by close application mastered 
the duties given to their charge. To them is 
due much of the reputation won by the work 
made in Chicago. When in the year 1880, 
Loring turned his attention to other matters, 
(James Taylor having left in 1877), they took 
charge of the business, and succeeded from 
small means, but with great diligence, in 
building up the largest terra cotta plant in the 
West. 

The business was first carried on under the 


157 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

name of True, Brunkhorst and Company. On 
the death of John Brunkhorst in 1886, the firm 
name was changed to True, Hottinger and 
Company. In January, 1888, it was incorpor¬ 
ated as the Northwestern Terra Cotta Com¬ 
pany, being a successor in lineal descent to 
the old Chicago Terra Cotta Company, the 
pioneer plant of America. Thus Chicago may 
justly claim the honor of being the birthplace 
of American architectural terra cotta. 

The first President of the corporation was 
John R. True, and the Secretary, Gustav Hot¬ 
tinger. In February, 1890, Mr. Hottinger was 
elected President, and Mr. True, Treasurer. 
Mr. True died 6 April, 1908. In June, 1915, 
Fritz Wagner, who had been connected with 
the Company since 1881, finally retired from 
active business. Beginning as outside super¬ 
intendent, he had later become Vice-President 
and General Manager of the Company. He 
was succeeded by Harry J. Lucas, who had 
been connected with the terra cotta business 
for many years, first with the New York Com¬ 
pany, and later as Executive Secretary of the 
National Terra Cotta Society. The North- 


158 


THE CENTRAL COMPANIES 

western Company has, for many years, been 
the leading manufacturer of terra cotta in the 
West. 

The second company to begin operations in 
Chicago was the American Terra Cotta and 
Ceramic Company of Terra Cotta, Illinois. 
This was strictly a family concern, founded by 
William D. Gates, a lawyer by profession, in 
1888. Mr. Gates has four sons who have been 
educated in Manual Training and Ceramic 
Schools and brought up in the factory work. 
Ellis, who is not in good health, is now in 
Colorado. The others are associated with Mr. 
Gates in the management of the business, Neil 
as Secretary, Major as Assistant General Man¬ 
ager and Paul in charge of research work. 

Mr. Gates has written the following inter¬ 
esting and amusing account of his early expe¬ 
riences in the business: 

“In 1881, William D. Gates, then a young 
lawyer, or who at least then thought he was a 
lawyer, got an old mill on his hands. While 
prospecting about, his attention was called to 
a peculiar clay deposit located on the prop¬ 
erty. Being young, impressionable and inex- 


159 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


perienced he commenced dallying with it and 
found it very adhesive. It stuck to him. He 
couldn’t get away from it. He began an end¬ 
less experimentation in which he is still en¬ 
gaged. He knew he had a mill by a dam site, 
but learned later that it was not a Terra Cotta 
Factory, by a damn sight. 

“Then he began falling into the hands of 
more or less experts, all anxious to impart in¬ 
formation whether they possessed it or not, 
and most of them themselves sadly in need of 
the article they were supposed to furnish. 

“Not being wise enough to know when he 
had had enough, he persisted, and went on ex¬ 
changing money for experience, all the time 
getting shorter of money and longer on experi¬ 
ence. If experience could be cashed in he 
would now be quite well-to-do. 

“However, not knowing when he was 
whipped, he began learning the business, got 
a few men together, guessed himself into a few 
small jobs, and began making them, finally 
gathering a working organization. 

“In 1888 he incorporated the American 
Terra Cotta and Ceramic Company, which or¬ 
ganization has continued to the present time. 

“The factory is located forty-five miles 


160 













THE CENTRAL COMPANIES 

northwest of Chicago on the Chicago and 
North-Western Railway. 

“At an early day a laboratory was installed, 
one of the outcomes of which was the Teco 
Pottery which became wide-known. 

“He has raised a family of boys, educated 
in the business, who are more competent than 
he ever was. and who are now putting vim 
and energy into the business. 

“The product of the factory has been pretty 
widely distributed during the thirty odd rears, 
many Banks. School Houses. Office Buildings 
and so forth. Notably the Chicago and North- 
Western Terminal. Chicago: Great Lakes 
Naval Station, and numerous Sky Scrapers in 
Chicago, St. Paul and Minneapolis have 
largely been the work of this Company.’’ 

The Indianapolis Company was organized 
as a stock corporation in June. 1SS3. as a suc¬ 
cessor to Stilz. Joiner and Company, who had 
failed. Mr. Hodgson was President. William 
F. Stilz. Vice-President: Mr. Dickerson, Sec¬ 
retary and Treasurer, and Joseph Joiner, Sup¬ 
erintendent. The plant was located at Bright- 
wood. a few miles from Indianapolis. In June, 
1SS5. the Company went into the hands of 


161 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


receivers, and in February, 1886, the plant was 
purchased by Charles P. Mason, Maria R. Stilz 
and Joseph Joiner, and the Company reor¬ 
ganized with W. F. Stilz as President. About 
the year 1895, Benjamin D. Walcott pur¬ 
chased an interest in the Company, which was 
again reorganized with Mr. Walcott as Presi¬ 
dent and Treasurer. About ten years later 
Mr. Walcott threw the Company into bank¬ 
ruptcy and bought it in at the receivers’ sale, 
and once more reorganized it with himself as 
President and Treasurer, his son Harris Wal¬ 
cott as Vice-President, and his wife Mary N. 
Walcott, as Secretary. On the death of Harris 
Walcott, in May 1907, Fred Walcott, a 
nephew of Mr. Walcott, was appointed Vice- 
President, and on the death of Benjamin Wal¬ 
cott in February, 1916, Mrs. Walcott became 
President, with Fred Rose, Vice-President and 
Lewis Watson, Secretary, who continued in 
office until William D. Gates bought the entire 
capital stock in April, 1918, and leased the 
plant to the American Company. Joseph 
Joiner, who was a member of the original firm 
of Stilz and Joiner, was an Englishman by 


162 


THE CENTRAL COMPANIES 

birth, and a nephew of John M. Blashfield, 
the well-known manufacturer of architectural 
terra cotta. He was an architect by profession 
and a man of great practical ability. He was 
engaged to come to this country in 1881 by 
William C. Hall at the time the Perth Amboy 
Company secured the large order for the Pro¬ 
duce Exchange in New York. Under his 
superintendence the Perth Amboy plant was 
rebuilt and that large contract successfully 
executed. Soon after this, he went to Indian¬ 
apolis, and began the manufacture of terra 
cotta with William F. Stilz, as above stated. 
He was connected with the Indianapolis Com¬ 
pany, as Superintendent, and later as General 
Manager, until his death in 1902. William F. 
Stilz was connected with the Company as 
Vice-President, and later, as President. He 
finally left the city the same day that Mr. 
Lacey arrived, 13 January, 1896, and was not 
subsequently associated with the Company in 
any way. George H. Lacey, an Englishman 
by birth, and a man of very wide experience 
in the business, was Superintendent of the 
Company from 1896 to 1902, and subse- 


163 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


quently, after the death of Mr. Joiner, the Gen¬ 
eral Manager, which position he occupies at 
the present time. 

The Winkle Company of St. Louis was in¬ 
corporated in October, 1889, as a successor to 
the Joseph Winkle Terra Cotta Works which 
began business two years before, with a small 
capital, in works at Cheltenham leased from 
the Laclede Fire Brick Company of which Mr. 
Winkle had been Superintendent. This also 
is a family concern. Until his death in 1914 
Mr. Winkle was President of the Company 
and his nephew John G. Hewitt has always 
been the Secretary. 

The St. Louis Company was first incorpor¬ 
ated in October, 1894. The Company built a 
few kilns, but did not continue in business 
long, and the plant was idle for three or four 
years. In 1898 the business was sold to R. J. 
McDonald and R. F. Grady, who became re¬ 
spectively President and Vice-President of the 
new organization. Mr. Grady was at one time 
a United States Engineer, but came to St. 


164 


THE CENTRAL COMPANIES 

Louis in 1891 where for seven years he was 
Superintendent of the Evens and Howard Fire 
Brick Company. David N. Burruss was 
elected President in 1904, and W. A. Maguire, 
Second Vice-President in 1916. Mr. Macdon¬ 
ald died 12 August, 1908. Mr. Grady has been 
the General Manager of the Company since 
its organization. 

The Western Terra Cotta Company was or¬ 
ganized 5 October, 1905, by William Timmer¬ 
man at Kansas City, Kansas. Mr. Timmerman 
was the President; Walter Timmerman, Vice- 
President, and Paul C. Baltz, Secretary and 
Treasurer, all of whom had formerly been 
connected with St. Louis companies. 

The Midland Company of Chicago was in¬ 
corporated 10 December, 1910, its first Presi¬ 
dent being William G. Krieg, an architect by 
profession, who at one time had been City 
Architect. “Big Bill,” as he was generally 
known by his associates in the National So¬ 
ciety, was always very much in evidence at 
the meetings, and never failed to attract atten- 


165 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


tion by his breezy personality. He was the 
loving father of the celebrated “Code of 
Ethics” of the Society. He retired from the 
business in April, 1918, and was succeeded as 
President by Hans Mendius. F. S. Ryan, the 
Vice-President, died in July, 1918. Walter 
S. Primley has been Secretary and Treasurer 
of the Company since its organization, except 
during the years 1917 and 1918, when he re¬ 
signed to enter the United States Army. The 
plant is located on a twenty acre plot at West 
16th Street and South 54th Avenue (Cicero). 

The Denver Company was founded 22 Sep¬ 
tember, 1911, by John Fackt, George P. Fackt 
and Carl P. Schwalb. George Fackt was pre¬ 
viously chemist, for about four years, of the 
St. Louis Company. He is a son of John 
Fackt of the Postel Milling Company at Mas- 
coutah, Illinois. Schwalb was formerly in the 
hardware business, and has lived in Denver 
nearly thirty years. He is also interested in 
the Linquist Cracker Company and is director 
of the Merchants Bank. The Company began 
operations in March, 1912. It has a well- 


166 


THE CENTRAL COMPANIES 

equipped plant. The clay is obtained from a 
deposit about seven miles north of Golden. 
In August, 1914, the Company took the con¬ 
tract for the Denver Union Depot, which is 
faced entirely with gray granite-finish terra 
cotta, amounting to about one thousand tons, 
the largest tonnage job in Denver. The capac¬ 
ity of the plant was tripled at that time. 

The Kansas City Terra Cotta and Faience 
Company is a successor to the Southwestern 
Terra Cotta Company, which was organized 
in June, 1910, and bought the present site of 
the plant, a plot of about five acres, but never 
began operations. In September, 1911, the 
business was incorporated under the present 
name, but did not prove successful. Finally 
the property was acquired by interests con¬ 
nected with the New Jersey and South Amboy 
Companies, and 4 December, 1912, the present 
and third Company was incorporated. 


167 


CHAPTER XI 

TERRA COTTA IN CHICAGO 

TER the article on the Central 
Companies had been written, a 
very complete history of the 
Northwestern Company was re¬ 
ceived from Harry J. Lucas. It 
was too interesting to be abbreviated, and too 
long to be included in the preceding chapter: 
it is therefore printed below, with the omission 
only of a few matters of purely local interest. 



The Northwestern Company 

“The history of this Company is closely asso¬ 
ciated with the foundation of the terra cotta 
industry in the United States. 

The central figure of this prelude to great 


168 





























TERRA COTTA IN CHICAGO 

things was Sanford E. Loring, at one time a 
practicing Chicago architect, a pupil of the 
first Van Osdel, and an early partner of 
W. L. B. Jenney, the noted Chicago architect. 

“Loring took up the terra cotta business in 
the late sixties, continuing the work until 1879, 
and in these few years lifted the craft to a 
point where rapid development was possible, 
and then disappeared from the scene. 

“Some years previous to the great Chicago 
Fire, in the late sixties, the firm of Hovey and 
Nichols, seedsmen, brought on from Indian¬ 
apolis a small works for the manufacture of 
vases and garden furniture. This factory Lor¬ 
ing acquired about 1869. 

“As Manager of the Chicago Terra Cotta 
Company, which later on changed its name 
to the Chicago Terra Cotta Works, he inter¬ 
ested himself in all branches of clay work. 
With Peter B. Wight, the architect, he devel¬ 
oped fireproof construction and fabricated the 
material required for the same. Together with 
S. G. Artingstall, City Engineer, he worked out 
and built roofs of porous terra cotta and steel. 
So far as he knew he was the original inventor 
of porous terra cotta, and he was a contem¬ 
porary of E. V. Johnson, later of national 
fame, in early attempts to use hollow tile. 


169 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


“It would seem natural that such a man 
should seek to obtain the best possible assist¬ 
ance, and his search for men trained in the 
business led him to James Taylor who, with 
his brother Robert, had left the Blashfield 
works in England, and emigrated to New Jer¬ 
sey. Loring was successful in securing the 
services of James Taylor, and of Robert Tay¬ 
lor somewhat later. James Taylor was given 
charge of the works, and pretty much dom¬ 
inated the practical activities of the Company 
until his release and return to the East in 1877. 

“The work done by the Chicago Terra Cotta 
Works embraced a wide range, from the 
roughest to the finest. Active competition 
with galvanized iron, so far as cornices and 
much other architectural work was concerned, 
will explain that it was necessary to search far 
and wide for features that could not well be 
made in metal. In those days it was necessary 
to convert the architect and hypnotize the 
owner in order to get a contract, and yet the 
factory was seldom short of work. 

“A considerable business was developed in 
stock patterns, notably window and door caps, 
and immediately after the Fire considerable 
money was made with this class of work. 
Large quantities of book tile were made on a 


170 


TERRA COTTA IN CHICAGO 

hand machine for fireproofing, and much por¬ 
ous terra cotta was made, chiefly by hand in 
wooden and plaster moulds. 

“Ornamental tile, both hand and machine 
made, found a ready sale, and there was some 
demand for glazed brick. 

“The business, as it progressed, was con¬ 
stantly taking on a more distinctly architec¬ 
tural character. Cornices and trimmings for 
large buildings became more frequent; large 
contracts for hip-rolls and cresting made their 
appearance, and groups of heavy chimneys for 
residences were popular. Much high-class 
work was done in trimmings for residences. 
At all times there was a large trade in chimney 
tops, requiring a special wagon on the road 
with ladders and scaffolding. 

“James Taylor knew the mechanical end of 
architectural terra cotta as few men have 
known it, but unfortunately was blind to his 
own limitations. His hazy conception as to 
how hard terra cotta should be fired permitted 
some inferior work to leave the factory. 

“The Chicago Terra Cotta Works invariably 
erected its own work, and a word of tribute 
should be given to an English mason, by the 
name of Filey, who had charge of this depart¬ 
ment. Everybody believed implicitly that 


171 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

Filey could set any piece, no matter how 
crooked, and make it look right. 

“As a matter of record, a partial list of men 
working with the Company in the early days is 
here inserted without comment: 


In Chicago 


James Taylor 
Robert Taylor 
John R. True 
John Brunkhorst 
Henry Rohkam 
John Tank 
Gustav Hottinger 
W. H. Junge 


Superintendent 
General Foreman 
Shipper 

Presser and Finisher 
Presser and Finisher 
Presser and Finisher 
Model-makerand Modeller 
Draftsman 


In Boston 


Harry A. Lewis 
Frank P. Meyenberg 
Pete Peterson 
Harry Mitchell 
Paul Bartlett 


Clerk 

Model and Mould Maker 
Presser and Finisher 
Foreman 
Sculptor 


“James Taylor left Chicago in 1877 and took 
his brother Robert with him. At this period, 
Loring was negotiating with the Boston Fire 
Brick Company to establish a terra cotta fac¬ 
tory in their plant. When he finally succeeded 
in making arrangements he withdrew men, 
tools and material from the Chicago works, 
and, leaving this factory in charge of his 


172 


TERRA COTTA IN CHICAGO 

brother, Edward Loring, spent the greater part 
of his time in the East. James Taylor headed 
the Boston organization for a time, but later 
W. H. Junge was given charge. 

“At about this time, in 1877, five men with¬ 
drew from the Chicago factory and founded 
the firm of True, Brunkhorst and Company, 
for the purpose of engaging in the manufac¬ 
ture of miscellaneous clay goods. This was 
the specific start or beginning of the North¬ 
western Terra Cotta Company. 

“The career of the Chicago Terra Cotta 
Works, and of Sanford E. Loring as a terra 
cotta man, were now nearly ended. In 1879, 
at a time when the future seemed bright, with 
large and profitable contracts in hand, with 
ample capital and backing assured, the whole 
brilliant business suddenly became a tangle of 
broken promises and unpaid debts. 

“The nearest friends of Sanford E. Loring 
believed that his sudden change from a mas¬ 
terful chief to a vacillating nonentity, so far as 
his terra cotta business was concerned, was 
due to an unfortunate blow he had received 
on the head, and yet, strangely enough, at just 
this time, when he was unable to gather the 
loose ends and maintain his established busi¬ 
ness, he was able to give remarkable profes- 


173 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

sional service as an architect, and to accept 
and execute contracts for building work. The 
money he made in this way at this time sup¬ 
ported him for years after. 

“All of Loring’s subordinates and friends 
were loyal. The ‘Northwestern’ cherished for 
years the hope that he would see fit to join 
with them, and every employe was willing to 
forget misadventures, and forgive all else and 
enroll again under his banner; but the vaga¬ 
ries induced by that random blow had control 
for a sufficient time to keep him permanently 
out of terra cotta. But he had sowed the seed 
deep and wide, and the business he had 
created flowed to those able to take care of it. 
He died in Buffalo, New York, in 1918, at the 
age of 77 years. 

“The Northwestern Terra Cotta Company, 
as before stated, had its inception in 1877, 
when the firm of True, Brunkhorst and Com¬ 
pany was organized. This new firm was com¬ 
posed of five members, namely: John Brunk¬ 
horst, Gustav Hottinger, Henry Rohkam, John 
Tank and John R. True. All of them had 
been with the Chicago Terra Cotta Works. 
In the months preceding their separation from 
that Company they had gone far with suitable 
preparations, and the new business was soon 


174 


TERRA COTTA IN CHICAGO 

comfortably settled in a two-story brick fac¬ 
tory, facing Lincoln Park, at the junction of 
Lincoln Avenue and Wells Street, in Chicago. 

“This little place on the whole was rather 
a potential than an actual architectural terra 
cotta works. Some excellent architectural 
terra cotta was produced, but the bulk of the 
output was in other directions. 

“John Brunkhorst in those days easily took 
the lead among the partners—almost over¬ 
night he jumped into the role of business man, 
and made good. His knowledge of clay, firing 
and mechanics was based on observation and 
experience, and, although in no sense scien¬ 
tific, it was valuable. 

“Brunkhorst was a massive figure, red-faced 
and two-fisted. His slouch hat, curly hair, 
faded blue suit and impressive waddle were 
subjects of constant ‘joshing’ on the part of 
his friends. He was trusted at sight, and 
trusted others the same way; was hail-fellow- 
well-met with the public, his partners and em¬ 
ployes; and harder to please in the factory 
than can well be imagined. His nerve was 
sublime. Apparently impulsive and careless, 
he as good as never blundered. 

“Gustav Hottinger had a solid education, 
and a taste for scientific inquiry. He was able 


175 



THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

at once to set the processes beyond the rule of 
thumb, and his talents as a modeller, together 
with his experience in plaster work, proved 
indispensable factors in the business. 

“It would be difficult to imagine a more quiet 
and unobtrusive man than the Gustav Hottin- 
ger of those days. He was the only man 
around the works who was not the least bit 
afraid of Brunkhorst, and nothing seemed to 
hurry him and nothing stopped him. He was 
a slender man and not tall, and he had a keen 
sense of humor which he took pleasure in con¬ 
cealing from all but his intimate friends. 
Brunkhorst loaded him without mercy with 
estimating, drafting, modelling, and machin¬ 
ery installations, but somehow without flurry 
it could all be accomplished. 

“Henry Rohkam had been a presser and fin¬ 
isher, but he soon added the duties of collector 
to his other activities. He was older than the 
others, and very conservative. Before emi¬ 
grating, he had been a soldier; in fact, had 
served through a war, and he believed theo¬ 
retically in the strictest discipline. However, 
when discipline and his kind heart conflicted, 
the heart always won. He was vigilant, and 
an untiring worker. In appearance he was 
rather thin and sallow, but broad-shouldered 


176 


TERRA COTTA IN CHICAGO 

and erect, of medium height, and had a 
slightly preoccupied air. 

“John Tank was a ‘Clay man/ skilled in 
every ramification of working and drying the 
material. He was, incidentally, a rarely good 
mould-maker. He was not a large man, but 
very strong and rugged. No work was too 
hard for him, and no hours too long. Although 
he was well known to have the knack of sav¬ 
ing, yet he was an unfailing source of supply 
for the impecunious. Faithful, kindly, indus¬ 
trious and competent, he was a rarely good 
man to know. 

“John R. True was a Maine Yankee, with a 
full measure of common sense and native 
shrewdness. He was familiar with bookkeep¬ 
ing and cost-keeping, and as shipper for the 
Chicago Terra Cotta Works had acquired un¬ 
usual discrimination as to quality of ware. 
Those who remember John R. True as a sedate, 
portly, banker-like man, of rich attire and 
dignified mien, will find it hard to picture him 
as a tall, raw-boned worker in overalls, one 
who never walked but ran. Such was he in 
those days. His sense of justice, his business 
integrity, his kindly willingness to overlook 
faults in others, were even then fully devel¬ 
oped, only to be mellowed by the coming years. 


177 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


“The general characteristics of the firm 
might be stated to have been unswerving hon¬ 
esty, and unlimited capacity for hard work. 
True was a Yankee, Hottinger an Austrian 
from Vienna, and Brunkhorst, Rohkam and 
Tank were Germans. 

“In 1880, the Loring plant stood vacant, with 
little if any hope of resuming work, and True, 
Brunkhorst and Company, having had calls 
for architectural terra cotta in excess of the 
kiln capacity of their Lincoln Park factory, 
leased the old works at the corner of 15th and 
Laflin Streets, and boldly entered the field. 

“The name ‘Northwestern’ was made known 
throughout the territory by means of cata¬ 
logues, samples, and personal calls on an ex¬ 
tended scale, and the road proved to be clear 
for rapid and consistent development. 

“It must be remembered that the factory 
they had hired, had been to an extent stripped 
of tools and machinery, and for this reason the 
task of starting up without delay called for 
energy of the best kind. Capital was not much 
in evidence, but the firm had already achieved 
a reputation for sterling square dealing which 
at that time could be capitalized. 

“All the partners, through association with 
Sanford E. Loring, had acquired a certain 


178 


TERRA COTTA IN CHICAGO 


idealism, and as part of the Taylor adminis¬ 
tration they knew pretty well what to do and 
what to avoid. Their motto was ‘Never do 
less than our best/ and the only hard and fast 
rule was ‘Never let a soft-burned piece escape/ 

“The organization was charged with esprit 
de corps. There was no such thing as a sharp 
division of duties. The draftsman might 
spend a day hoisting terra cotta to the roof of 
a building, or the bookkeeper might singe his 
hair getting a kiln out on time. Everybody 
filled in where needed, and the partners were 
big brothers to the whole force in the factory 
and out. 

“It is noteworthy that nearly all these early 
workers stayed by the terra cotta business as 
long as they lived. Only one, Mr. Hottinger, 
survives today. 

“Almost at the beginning of this period John 
Tank disposed of his interest in the firm, but 
kept on working with unabated enthusiasm. 
It may be stated here that John Tank retained 
a life position with the Company, and the last¬ 
ing respect and regard of all the partners. 

“In 1881, Fritz Wagner was engaged by the 
Northwestern as the outside superintendent. 
Almost at once his exceptional qualities gave 
him an enviable standing both with his em- 


179 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


ployers and the patrons of the Company. Wag¬ 
ner had had architectural training, which was 
the basis of his subsequent success as a terra 
cotta man, and he was also a practical me¬ 
chanic. He overflowed with energy, and at 
all times was ready to out-wrestle, out-climb or 
out-work anybody. Rather short than tall, 
always good-humored, he was a general favor¬ 
ite wherever he might find himself. 

“In 1882, the opportunity offered to have a 
suitable factory built on the site of the present 
works, corner of Clybourn Avenue and Terra 
Cotta Place, Chicago. This factory building 
and four good-sized kilns were promptly 
erected, the brick being made on the premises. 

“It should be noted that the Lincoln Park 
factory was abandoned about 1884. 

“In 1886, Burnham and Root entrusted the 
terra cotta contract for facades and court of 
the Rookery Building to the Northwestern 
Terra Cotta Company, and with this contract 
the ‘Northwestern' came of age. 

“The Rookery was by no means the first 
large building in Chicago to use terra cotta, 
but it was at that time a conspicuous innova¬ 
tion in many ways, and plainly marks an era 
in the terra cotta business of the West. The 


180 


TERRA COTTA IN CHICAGO 

first considerable amount of glazed terra cotta 
was used in the court of this building. 

“In 1886, John Brunkhorst died, and his 
mantle fell on the shoulders of Fritz Wagner. 
The business was growing by leaps and 
bounds; the factory was extended from time 
to time, new kilns added, new adjacent prop¬ 
erty acquired, and great advances made in 
organization. 

“The death of John Brunkhorst brought 
about the closing of the branch works in the 
old Loring factory. At the same time the firm 
name was changed to True, Hottinger and 
Company, the three surviving original partners 
—True, Rohkam and Hottinger—composing 
this new organization. 

“In January, 1888, the business was incor¬ 
porated under the name of the Northwestern 
Terra Cotta Company. The first President was 
John R. True. At the end of two years, he was 
elected Treasurer, and Mr. Hottinger became 
President, the change being made in order to 
give Mr. True more time to attend to the finan¬ 
cial affairs of the Company. 

“Gustav Hottinger, as President, took charge 
of all technical matters. John R. True, as 
Treasurer, managed the office and the finan¬ 
cial affairs, and Fritz Wagner looked after the 


181 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

estimating and selling, and had general over¬ 
sight of production. Wagner was then, and 
indeed so continued to be, as long as he re¬ 
mained with the Company, the contact point 
with architects and customers. 

“In 1891 it may be said that all four princi¬ 
pals had developed with the business. They 
had become accustomed to the elegancies 
of life without losing their democratic lean¬ 
ings, and all looked the part of prosperous 
business men. True had enjoyed some civic 
honors, while Wagner and Rohkam had kept 
out of politics. True and Wagner had grown 
somewhat portly, but Rohkam and Hottinger 
had changed but little. 

“In 1892 W. H. Junge, who at that time 
was Superintendent of the Boston Terra Cotta 
Company, was engaged, and assigned the task 
of building up a Drafting Department that 
would be adequate. The Company realized 
that economy of manufacture depended on 
proper preparation, and willingly followed the 
footsteps of the American Bridge Company in 
developing a really competent department. 

“In 1894 Adolph Hottinger, the eldest son 
of Gustav Hottinger, became interested in the 
chemistry of clays, and the Northwestern soon 
began to see the possibility of realizing dreams, 


182 


\ 


TERRA COTTA IN CHICAGO 

cherished from the first, to make enamelled 
terra cotta. The first enamelled terra cotta front 
was undertaken for the Reliance Building, at 
the southwest corner of State and Washington 
Streets, Chicago. While no misgivings were 
entertained at first, the factory ‘sweated 
blood’ before this building was finished. The 
ambition to make enamelled terra cotta com¬ 
mercially possible had, however, at last been 
achieved. 

“Enamelled terra cotta became popular at 
once, and such buildings as the Railway Ex¬ 
change in Chicago, and the McCreary Stores 
in Pittsburgh, established the Northwestern 
reputation for all time. 

“In December, 1896, Henry Rohkam passed 
away, and John R. True followed him in April, 
1908, both sincerely mourned. 

“After the death of John R. True, Gustav 
Hottinger continued as President, but dele¬ 
gated to his son, Adolph, who by this time had 
become one of the foremost ceramic chemists 
of the country, practically full oversight of all 
things pertaining to colors and burning. 

“Mr. Wagner continued in charge of the 
general management, but took up also an 
oversight of the financial affairs of the Com¬ 
pany. He built up gradually, beginning at 


183 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

this time, a more conventional organization, 
both in office and factory. 

"About 1905 Fred Ellersdorfer was made 
Superintendent, being the first to carry the 
title, and in 1911 Fritz Wagner, Jr., was made 
Assistant Superintendent. 

"In 1907 Mr. Wagner’s eldest son, Carl, en¬ 
tered the factory and later was made Secretary 
of the Company. He did valuable work, chiefly 
in relieving his father of a large amount of 
routine work. 

"William Rokham, a son of Henry Rohkam, 
was part of the organization for some years, 
and was at one time Secretary of the Company. 
He withdrew from the business entirely in 
1918. For some years Alfred Brunkhorst, a 
son of the founder, was in the employ of the 
Company as photographer, foreman and assis¬ 
tant in the laboratory. He became associated 
later on with the Midland Company. 

"In 1911 Fred Ellersdorfer was promoted to 
an office position, and Theodore Schroer be¬ 
came Superintendent, Fritz Wagner, Jr., con¬ 
tinuing as Assistant Superintendent. 

"In June, 1915, Fritz Wagner withdrew 
from the Company, and his two sons, and also 
Fred Ellersdorfer and Theodore Schroer left 
at the same time. 


184 


TERRA COTTA IN CHICAGO 

“This occurrence made a complete reorgani¬ 
zation necessary, and brought into the councils 
of the Company, Dr. Sherman Taylor, a son- 
in-law of Henry Rohkam; Horace L. Brand, 
who married the widow of John R. True, and 
H. J. Lucas, of New York City, formerly with 
the New York Company. 

“Mr. Lucas was elected Vice-President and 
General Manager, and held these positions 
through three years of tentative and experi¬ 
mental reorganization, culminating in the sale 
of the True-Brand and Wagner interests to 
Mr. Hottinger and Mrs. Rohkam. 

“In 1919 Gustav Hottinger, the sole surviv¬ 
ing founder, is still President of the North¬ 
western, and his son, Adolph, is Secretary and 
Treasurer. Dr. Sherman Taylor fills the posi¬ 
tion of First Vice-President and Harry J. 
Lucas that of Vice-President and General Man¬ 
ager. George Lawson is the Superintendent. 

“The Northwestern is now a large organiza¬ 
tion, officered and managed according to mod¬ 
ern methods. It has played an important part 
in the development of a great national indus¬ 
try, and stands today, as it has always stood, 
for all that is best in architectural terra cotta.” 


185 


CHAPTER XII 


THE PACIFIC COMPANIES 

UST after the Great Fire of Chi¬ 
cago, when the city was rapidly 
rising from its ashes, three 
enterprising young men were 
employed there by as many dif¬ 
ferent contracting companies. The youngest 
of the three had been born about twenty-five 
years before on the banks of the St. Lawrence 
River, of Scotch parentage, and named after 
Peter McGill, who had been associated with 
his father and his uncles during the early part 
of the last century in felling the Canadian 
forests along the St. Lawrence and Ottawa 
Rivers. Soon after the first trans-continental 
railroad was opened, the young man with the 



186 












CHARLES GLADDING 












THE PACIFIC COMPANIES 


two Macs in his name went to California, 
where he remained for four years. Returning 
to Chicago two years after the Fire, on the 
first day of May, 1875, with Charles Gladding 
and George Chambers, Peter McGill McBean 
founded the now celebrated firm of Gladding- 
McBean Company, for the manufacture of 
clay products in California. 

Chambers started at once for the Coast to 
superintend the erection of the new plant, on 
a plot of about five acres which had been 
purchased at Lincoln, 120 miles from San 
Francisco. The plant now covers four hun¬ 
dred acres, with a mile of railroad sidings in 
the works. McBean himself arrived at San 
Francisco about the middle of August, 1875, 
just as their first order was ready for delivery. 

Mr. P. McGill McBean has written the fol¬ 
lowing brief history of his Company: 

“The firm of Gladding, McBean and Com¬ 
pany erected in the early part of 1875, at Lin¬ 
coln, Placer County, California, a small fac¬ 
tory for the manufacture of vitrified clay 
pipe for sewerage. To meet the increased 
demands for their products, expansions were 


187 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

made from time to time until the buildings 
and kilns covered about ten acres. The prod¬ 
ucts also increased, including the manufac¬ 
ture of architectural terra cotta, face and fire 
brick, fire tile, conduit pipe, roofing tile, flue 
linings, terra cotta chimney pipe, tile for land 
drainage, hollow tile for building purposes, in 
addition to the vitrified clay pipe. 

“During the year 1875 Charles Gladding and 
his son, Albert J. Gladding, superintended the 
manufacturing at Lincoln, while Peter McGill 
McBean managed the sales and financing at 
San Francisco. 

“For some years prior to 1884, the Com¬ 
pany made ornamental tiles and panels, but 
their first effort in architectural terra cotta 
was in June, 1884, for a two-story fifty-foot 
front building, which was erected for their 
own use at 1358-1360 Market Street, San 
Francisco. This was a light buff terra cotta, 
and was used for arches over the first and sec¬ 
ond story openings, for window sills, lintels, 
cornice, ornamental tiles, and name and street 
number panels—all costing about twelve hun¬ 
dred and fifty dollars. 

“Wright and Sanders, who were the archi¬ 
tects, were assisted by a young draftsman, 
who had recently arrived from Boston, where 


188 


THE PACIFIC COMPANIES 

he had had some experience in the use of 
architectural terra cotta. This was the first 
building erected on the Pacific Coast in which 
architectural terra cotta had been used for 
trimmings, and attracted much attention. 

“The next work, which was in red, was 
made for a four-story building erected by the 
‘Society of California Pioneers’ at the corner 
of 4th Street and Pioneer Place, San Fran¬ 
cisco. This terra cotta was fabricated about 
the middle of 1885 and the contract price was 
forty-five hundred - dollars. The work was 
very artistic, and consisted of busts of pio¬ 
neers prominent in the early history of Cali¬ 
fornia, also panels descriptive of ‘49’ camp 
life, or mining scenes, California animals, etc. 
Wright and Sanders were the architects. F. 
Marion Wells, a sculptor of note in his day, 
made the models as well as the moulds. Both 
of these buildings were burned in the Great 
Fire of 1906. 

“During the next few years the terra cotta 
business rapidly increased and extended to 
the larger cities throughout California, Ne¬ 
vada, Utah, Arizona, Oregon, Washington, 
British Columbia and Hawaii. 

“The following are a few of the prominent 
Pacific Coast and other buildings for which 


189 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

the Company has furnished the architectural 
terra cotta: Metropolitan Life Insurance Com¬ 
pany, San Francisco, California; Los Angeles 
Trust and Savings Bank, Los Angeles, Cali¬ 
fornia; Oakland City Hall, Oakland, Califor¬ 
nia; United States National Bank, Portland, 
Oregon; Old National Bank, Spokane, Wash¬ 
ington; Deseret National Bank, Salt Lake 
City, Utah; Orpheum Theatre, Kansas City, 
Missouri; Vancouver Block, Vancouver, Brit¬ 
ish Columbia; Mitsubishi Bank, Tokyo, 
Japan; Union Steamship Company Building, 
Sydney, Australia. 

“The major part of the factory and prac¬ 
tically all of the machinery were destroyed 
by fire 29 July, 1918. All have since been 
replaced with modern buildings, suitably 
equipped for the economical manufacture of 
the Company’s various clay products.” 

The 22 March, 1886, the business of Glad¬ 
ding and McBean was incorporated under the 
old firm name, with Charles Gladding as 
President; George Chambers, Vice-President, 
and Peter McGill McBean, Secretary and 
Treasurer. Charles Gladding died 17 Janu¬ 
ary 1894, and George Chambers, 15 October 
1896. The present officers are: Peter McGill 


190 








9 


THE PACIFIC COMPANIES 

McBean, President; Albert J. Gladding, First 
Vice-President; George R. Chambers, Second 
Vice-President, and Atholl McBean, Secre¬ 
tary and Treasurer, the three last named all 
being sons of members of the original firm. 

In 1864 Nehemiah Clark, one of the Cali¬ 
fornia Pioneers, who had learned his trade as 
a potter in the State of Ohio, started that 
business at Sacramento, having previously be¬ 
come the owner of valuable clay deposits in 
Amador County. In 1866, he also started a 
sewer pipe plant at the same place. In 1882, 
a co-partnership was formed under the name 
of N. Clark and Sons, and his two sons, 
George D. and Albert V. Clark, became mem¬ 
bers of the firm. In 1887 a large plant was 
built at West Alameda for manufacturing 
sewer pipe and fire brick, the intention being 
to handle interior trade from the Sacramento 
plant and the “Bay Cities” from the Alameda 
works. However, shortly afterwards the Sac¬ 
ramento plant was destroyed by fire and 
never rebuilt. After that the West Alameda 
plant was very much enlarged, especially in 


191 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


the architectural terra cotta department, and 
was one of the finest on the Pacific Coast, 
being thoroughly modern in every respect. 
The first contract for architectural terra cotta 
executed was in 1896, for the Union Depot, 
foot of Market Street, San Francisco. The 
Alameda works were burned 28 July, 1917, 
and were not immediately rebuilt, owing to 
war conditions. Immediately after the close 
of the War, construction was commenced, 
and the plant will be fully rebuilt and in 
operation by the end of the year 1919. The 
Company owns large clay deposits, and manu¬ 
factures a full line of clay products. The 
business was incorporated 11 January, 1889, 
under the name of N. Clark and Sons. 

The Denny-Renton Clay and Coal Com¬ 
pany was incorporated in June, 1905. The 
business dates back to 1882, at which time it 
was organized under the name of the Puget 
Sound Fire Clay Company. Later on the 
business was taken over by the Denny Clay 
Company, which operated same until 1905, 
when the present Company was organized, tak- 


192 


THE PACIFIC COMPANIES 

ing over the business of the Denny Clay Com¬ 
pany, which included a plant at Van Asselt 
for the manufacture of vitrified brick, vitrified 
sewer pipe and press brick; a plant at Taylor, 
Washington, manufacturing vitrified sewer 
pipe, press brick and a general line of clay 
hollow ware; and the vitrified paving brick 
plant of the Renton Clay Works located at 
Renton, Washington. 

In 1912 the new Company bought out the 
business of the Western Clay Company and 
the Diamond Brick Company of Portland, and 
now operates all of these works under the one 
management. The product of these plants is 
shipped all over the Pacific Northwest. 

The paving brick plant at Renton holds the 
record of being the largest single-unit plant in 
the world, its product being shipped as far 
away as South Africa. At the Van Asselt 
plant, which is located inside the city limits 
of Seattle, are manufactured architectural 
terra cotta, silica brick and magnesite brick. 
The silica and magnesite plant capacity was 
increased in 1919 and is now in shape to supply 
the growing demand for these products. 


193 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


One of the new companies of the great 
Northwest is the Northern Clay Company, of 
Auburn, Washington, about twenty miles 
south of Seattle. It was incorporated in Octo¬ 
ber, 1908, and took over the interests of the 
Northern Clay Products Company started by 
Arthur H. Meade in May, 1903, and known as 
the Auburn Pottery. The Company owns 
large and valuable clay deposits, besides the 
two acres on which the plant is located. The 
President, Paul S. MacMichael, is a very capa¬ 
ble man, who had a number of years’ expe¬ 
rience in the East in the terra cotta business. 

Mr. MacMichael has furnished the follow¬ 
ing brief history of his Company: 

“About the year 1880 a pottery was estab¬ 
lished at Auburn, which occupied the site now 
known as the Northern Pacific Railway tri¬ 
angle. It changed hands several times, but 
continually secured its clay from the pits now 
operated by the Northern Clay Company. It 
finally came into the possession of Mr. Arthur 
Meade, who erected a new plant on the north¬ 
ern edge of the city, and operated under the 
name of Meade’s Pottery. 


194 


THE PACIFIC COMPANIES 

“In 1905, the Northern Clay Products Com¬ 
pany was organized by Ernest Madison, Sam¬ 
uel Geijsbeek, Anton Richter and William 
Winkle, who had all previously been in the 
employ of the Winkle Terra Cotta Company, 
of St. Louis. They leased the Meade Pottery 
and began the manufacture of architectural 
terra cotta. 

“In 1908, the Northern Clay Company was 
organized. The plant and the fifty-acre tract 
on which the clay pit is located were bought 
from Mr. Meade and the business of the 
Northern Clay Products Company was taken 
over. Paul S. MacMichael was made Presi¬ 
dent, in which office he has continued to the 
present time. Anton Richter is the only one 
of the original organization who still remains 
with the Company. 

“In the Spring of 1910, Mark Ogan became 
associated with the Company, as chemist. 
Previous to this, the Company had manufac¬ 
tured only standard finish terra cotta, but 
largely as a result of his careful work, the 
Company firmly established, and has since 
maintained, a reputation for producing high- 
class glazed-finish terra cotta. It was Mr. 
Ogan’s intention to become identified with 
the Company in an official capacity, but in 


195 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


April, 1911, he had an attack of appendicitis, 
to which he succumbed 11 May of that year.” 

In 1889 the Washington Brick and Lime 
Company was started by James H. Spear, 
who was the President, with his son, L. A. 
Spear, as Secretary and Treasurer. Later this 
Company was consolidated with the Spokane 
Sewer Pipe Company under the name of the 
Washington Brick, Lime and Sewer Pipe 
Company. The new Company built a large 
sewer pipe plant at Spear, east of the city, 
which was badly damaged by fire in 1917, 
but has since been rebuilt. They also have 
a brick plant at Freeman, a lime plant at Bay- 
view, Idaho, and a brick and terra cotta plant 
at Clayton, which was burned in 1897, but 
was rebuilt. All of the plants are modern 
and up-to-date in every respect, with exten¬ 
sive equipment for the manufacture of the 
different lines of material which they handle. 

In May, 1919, the Spears sold their inter¬ 
ests and retired from the Company, and the 
following officers were elected: A. B. Fosseen, 
President; Victor E. Piollet, Vice-President; 


196 


THE PACIFIC COMPANIES 

C. P. Lund, Secretary, and E. C. Van Brundt, 
Treasurer. 

The Los Angeles Pressed Brick Company 
is the youngest member of the National Terra 
Cotta Society, having been elected at the 
Atlantic City meeting in June, 1919. The 
Company was incorporated in March, 1903, 
being a successor to the Los Angeles Pressed 
Brick and Terra Cotta Company, of Santa 
Monica, which had been in existence for 
many years. The Company owns and oper¬ 
ates four large and complete clay products 
plants, manufacturing architectural terra 
cotta, face and enamelled brick, roofing tile, 
hollow tile, refractories, sewer pipe, and com¬ 
mon brick. 

The original plant of the Company out¬ 
grew its small quarters at Cleveland and Col¬ 
lege Streets, Los Angeles, and moved to its 
present site of approximately eleven acres in 
1902. At this plant it has a total of 31 kilns. 
The Santa Monica plant was taken over from 
the Sunset Brick and Tile Company in 1904 
and embraces 57 acres of land, with 12 kilns. 
The plant at Point Richmond, California, was 


197 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


built and in operation in 1907. At this plant 
are manufactured face brick and common 
brick only. The fourth plant, at Alberhill, the 
second largest, was built in 1916, and is con¬ 
sidered by competent authorities to be a model 
plant. Face brick, refractories and hollow 
tile are made at this factory. 

From 1887 to date the Company has sup¬ 
plied practically all of the large face brick 
orders in Los Angeles and Southern Califor¬ 
nia. Nearly all of the large down town mer¬ 
cantile and other buildings have been erected 
with their face brick and hollow tile. In addi¬ 
tion, they have furnished many large con¬ 
tracts throughout the State, also have many 
fine examples of their work throughout 
Arizona, Utah, and some in Oregon and 
Washington. 

The business was founded by the late 
Charles H. Frost, a Los Angeles pioneer, who 
was President of the Company from 1887 to 
1913. His son, Howard Frost, is now Presi¬ 
dent; H. West Hughes, a physician, is Vice- 
President, and Harlow B. Potter is the Secre¬ 
tary and Treasurer. 


198 


CHAPTER XIII 

CERAMIC DEVELOPMENT 

T is now only half a century since 
the first company for the manu¬ 
facture of architectural terra¬ 
cotta was incorporated at Chi¬ 
cago. During the earlier days 
the business was very small. At the end of 
twenty years, in 1890, it had increased to about 
a million dollars a year, and at the end of the 
century, to about two millions. The next de¬ 
cade showed a very remarkable increase, 
reaching a total production in 1912 of over 
eight million dollars. The large demand for 
architectural terra ootta during this period was 
undoubtedly due to a very great extent to the 
development of the Ceramic side of the busi- 



199 









THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

ness. The general use of soft coal for burn¬ 
ing, particularly in the West, makes it very 
desirable to employ for the exterior of build¬ 
ings a material which can be readily cleaned, 
and architectural terra cotta best answers this 
purpose. 

The use of glazes was first brought to 
Europe by the Spanish Moors, who derived it 
from India, where it was introduced from 
China. In the 12th century glazed decorative 
tiles were made in northern France by the Nor¬ 
mans, after their return from the Crusades. 
The Normans were always quick to seize upon 
every art that would add to the beauty of their 
buildings, and when the Crusaders visited 
Syria and Palestine, where they found many 
buildings richly ornamented with glazed tiles, 
they were attracted by this new architectural 
feature, and carried back with them detailed 
drawings and specimens of glazed tiles, and 
also probably some knowledge of their manu¬ 
facture. Many buildings of this period, like 
the Hunting Gallery of St. Louis at Fontaine¬ 
bleau, show curious specimens of Norman tiles, 


200 


CERAMIC DEVELOPMENT 

which were also introduced into England at 
the time of the Conquest. 

It is certain that the art of enamelling, which 
in Europe first reached great perfection in the 
Island of Majorca, was derived from the Moors 
in Spain. Afterwards for a long period the 
art was lost, but in the 15th century it was re¬ 
vived at Faenza in Italy, whence the French 
turn faience, now much used, was derived. 
Great improvements in the art were made by 
the celebrated Luca della Robbia who was 
born at Florence in 1400, and died soon after 
reaching four-score years. After his death the 
secret of his method of enamelling was very 
carefully guarded by his family, and was a 
source of great profits to them. 

About a century later, Bernard Palissy, a 
Frenchman, invented the celebrated ware 
called by his name. This was similar to the 
Robbia productions, but differently orna¬ 
mented, and was remarkable for its beautiful 
and delicately blended glazes. 

Not long after Palissy, the Dutch began the 
production of their Delft-ware, which was sim- 


201 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


ilar in design to the Robbia and Palissy wares, 
but much inferior in beauty and grace. 

The revival of this art in England dates to 
the latter half of the past century, when the 
manufacture was brought to a high state of 
perfection by the well known firm of Minton 
and Company. 

In the production of decorative tiles in the 
United States much credit is due to John G. 
Low, the founder of the Low Art Tile Works. 
Mr. Low was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts, 
in 1835, where five generations of the same 
name had preceded him. From 1851 to 1877 
he devoted himself to various lines of paint¬ 
ing, commencing with fresco and decorative 
work. In 1858, at the age of 23, he went to 
Paris, where he studied for three years with 
Thomas Couture, and with M. Troyon, the 
celebrated cattle painter. In 1877 he became 
deeply interested in ceramic manufactures, 
and the following year formed a co-partner¬ 
ship with his father, Hon. John Low, and at 
once commenced the erection of a tile manu¬ 
factory in his native place. Having never seen 


202 


CERAMIC DEVELOPMENT 

a tile made in any factory, he began experi¬ 
menting on purely original lines and soon over¬ 
came the mechanical difficulties which pre¬ 
sented themselves. 

In a little more than a year after the works 
were started, we find this little firm in compe¬ 
tition with English tile-makers at the Exhibi¬ 
tion at Crew, Stoke-on-Trent, which was con¬ 
ducted under the auspices of the Royal Man¬ 
chester, Liverpool, and North Lancashire 
Agricultural Society, one of the oldest in Eng¬ 
land. There they won the Gold Medal over 
all the manufacturers of the United Kingdom 
for the best series of art tiles exhibited. This 
record, probably unsurpassed in ceramic his¬ 
tory, serves to illustrate the remarkably rapid 
development of the industry in America. 

The first terra cotta produced in the United 
States was either red or buff in color, the 
natural shades of the burnt clay. In many 
cases, as in the old Trinity Building on lower 
Broadway, New York City, the work was 
painted brown to imitate the brown-stone at 
that time so much in vogue. About 1888 a clay 


203 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

was discovered at Clayton, Massachusetts, just 
north of the Connecticut line, which burned 
a pure white, and the White Terra Cotta Com¬ 
pany was organized to put this ware on the 
market. It was found however that the clay 
was too refractory to be burned in muffled 
kilns unless mixed with buff clay, which had 
to be brought from New Jersey. This made 
the cost of manufacture so high as to be pro¬ 
hibitive, and after a brief existence the White 
Company went out of business. 

The new shade of terra cotta proved very 
popular with architects and was frequently 
specified. To meet this demand, the Perth 
Amboy and New York Companies began the 
manufacture of a white terra cotta made with 
a light buff body sprayed with a coating of 
white, which had immediate success. Exam¬ 
ples of this work may be seen in the Madison 
Square Garden, the Hotel Imperial, and the 
“Herald” Building, made by the Perth Amboy 
Company, and in the Harrigan (now the 
Garrick or French) Theatre, the Fifth Avenue 
Theatre, and in the old Colonial Club, now the 
Lincoln Trust Building, at 72nd Street and 


204 


CERAMIC DEVELOPMENT 

Broadway, made by the New York Company, 
all between 1889 and 1892. 

About 1894, the Perth Amboy Company 
began experimenting with glazes. Prior to 
that time the only glazed work used in build¬ 
ing was in the form of enamelled tiles or 
bricks, which were mainly employed for in¬ 
terior decoration, or in courts or air shafts. 
The manufacturers of enamelled brick at that 
period were quite well satisfied with their 
product if in the average run of the kilns they 
got thirty per cent of “firsts” or perfect bricks, 
and sixty per cent of bricks more or less crazed, 
which were sold as “seconds,” the balance 
being practically unsaleable. This will give 
an idea of the problem which confronted the 
terra cotta manufacturer. Owing to the great 
shrinkage of the moist clay body in drying and 
burning, the difficulty was to find a surface 
glaze which would not become cracked or 
crazed during the process. The difficulties in 
the case of terra cotta were also far greater 
than with bricks, on account of the much 
larger size of the pieces, and also due to the 
fact that in the case of terra cotta, each piece 


205 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

is made for a particular building, and for a 
certain place in that building. Therefore, in 
order to make the manufacture profitable, a 
much higher degree of success was essential 
than in the case of bricks or tiles. 

The Perth Amboy Company engaged a 
ceramic chemist who had had some exper¬ 
ience along other lines, and agreed to pay his 
salary and all expenses during the time spent 
in experimenting, with the understanding that 
if success was attained the formulae were to 
be the property of the Company. After sev¬ 
eral months a very fair result was obtained, 
but the chemist refused to turn over his for¬ 
mulae. He was at once discharged and the 
work had to be done all over again with an¬ 
other man. This time the results were satis¬ 
factory from every point of view, and the 
manufacture of glazed terra cotta began. 

Mr. Stuart R. Audsley, of the Atlantic Com¬ 
pany, has contributed the following interesting 
notes regarding the development of glazed 
and polychrome work by the Perth Amboy 
Terra Cotta Company: 


206 


CERAMIC DEVELOPMENT 


“In 1882 William C. Hall secured the services 
of Harry Capon, from Tamworth, England, to 
manufacture full white glaze bricks. Capon 
finally succeeded in making a brick fully equal 
at that time to the English brick produced in 
Staffordshire, but when he came to make an 
arrangement with Mr. Hall, as to just what his 
compensation would be in the future, no agree¬ 
ment could be reached, and Capon either 
severed his connection with the Company, or 
Mr. Hall severed it for him. 

“Several years after this, Hall again at¬ 
tempted to enter into the manufacture of glaze 
brick by having Jacob Bramm make extensive 
experiments. Bramm succeeded in producing 
a good brick, but as in the case of Capon, he 
could not reach an agreement with Mr. Hall. 
These two cases are mentioned in order to 
show that it was Hall's constant effort to do 
something new in the clay-making line and 
bring it up to a par with the products manu¬ 
factured in England. 

“Although exhaustive experiments were 
made for glazed bricks by Jacob Bramm and 
others employed by the Perth Amboy Com¬ 
pany, no effort was made to glaze terra cotta 
until some time after T. C. Booth entered the 
employ of the Company, about the year 1894, 


207 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


as it was thought that it could not be done with¬ 
out first biscuiting the ware, an expensive and 
lengthy operation. Booth came from England, 
his father and grandfather both being English 
potters. He came over here with his father, 
with the object of setting up a factory at Tarry- 
town, New York, to make Majolica art objects. 
He told William C. Hall he thought he could 
develop a glaze that could be applied to the 
green ware, and burnt in one operation. He 
was told to go to it and spare no expense to 
obtain that result. In a few months Booth de- 
v veloped a cream white full glaze that proved 
a success. The late Stanford White, and Bruce 
Price, at that time were keenly interested in 
glazes, as applied to architecture, and were 
especially anxious to obtain a dull white 
enamel that would have the texture of marble. 
Booth finally hit upon the idea of applying his 
full glaze in heavy coats and sandblasting the 
surface to obtain the matt effect desired. The 
first order of any size to be made in a sand¬ 
blasted cream white glaze was manufactured 
in 1897,—the gate and fence posts and trim¬ 
mings to the stables for the Gould estate, 
Lakewood, New Jersey, Bruce Price, architect. 
The next large orders were the Oelrichs resi¬ 
dence at Newport, Rhode Island; Fairmont 


208 



MADISON SQUARE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 




















CERAMIC DEVELOPMENT 

Hotel, San Francisco, California, and the 
Candler Building, all of which were made in 
cream white full glaze, sandblasted. 

“Mr. Booth, as above stated, entered into the 
employ of the Perth Amboy Terra Cotta Com¬ 
pany in 1894, and at once started in making 
experiments in glazes and colors. In a few 
months he succeeded in developing a number 
of useful colors suitable for the decoration of 
buildings, but it was not until 1898 that there 
was an opportunity to try some of them out on 
a large scale. Shades of pink, yellow, brown, 
gray, white and cream white were selected by 
Harding and Gooch, architects for the Dun 
Building cafe, Broadway and Reade Street, 
New York. With the exception of the pink, all 
of these colors were lightly sandblasted. The 
order was received in January 1898. Next 
came the Kelly and McAlinden Store, Smith 
Street, Perth Amboy, New Jersey, ordered in 
April 1898. This building was originally de¬ 
signed by Harry King, architect, of Newark, 
New Jersey, for plain light gray terra cotta 
without any ornament. As Mr. Hall was 
keenly interested in polychrome effects in 
buildings, and was anxious to have something 
more convincing to show architects than 
samples, he made the proposition to Kelly and 


209 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


McAlinden that if they would allow him to re¬ 
design the street elevation of their new build¬ 
ing, he would agree to give them in place of 
plain terra cotta, a matt finished glazed front, 
elaborately ornamented and artistically picked 
out in color, for the same money. Needless to 
say, this proposition was accepted. Mr. Hall 
employed Mr. Fox, an architect of Boston, to 
redesign this front elevation in polychrome 
terra cotta, of the early Italian Renaissance. 
Mr. HalFs selection of Mr. Fox was a happy 
one, for he had just returned from a year’s so¬ 
journ in Italy, studying color effects used by 
the old masters, and he was considered at that 
time to be an expert in color effects as applied 
to architecture. His design turned out all that 
could be desired, and was greatly admired by 
numerous architects whom Mr. Hall invited 
down from time to time to inspect the plans 
and samples at the plant. The direct result of 
these visits was to arouse the ambition of a 
number of architects to do something in color, 
especially Stanford White, and he did some¬ 
thing when he designed and used, polychrome 
v terra cotta in the Parkhurst Church. The 
Bannigan Memorial at Providence, Rhode 
Island, and the Chapel of the Redemptorist 
Fathers at Esopus, New York, were also the 


210 


CERAMIC DEVELOPMENT 

outcome of Mr. Hall’s tireless efforts to interest 
the architects in the use of polychrome terra 
cotta. 

“The first white unglazed terra cotta used 
in any large building in the East was made at 
the suggestion of Stanford White for the Madi¬ 
son Square Garden in 1889. By ‘white’ is 
meant an unglazed white slip sprayed on a buff 
body. Buff unsprayed terra cotta was, of 
course, used long before that time. 

“Prior to 1888 it was the custom to slip red 
and buff work either by dipping it in large 
tubs or applying the slip with a brush. In 
1888 steam was used, and slips were sprayed. 
In 1893 compressed air was substituted for 
steam. It is believed that the first order on 
which sprayed terra cotta was used was that 
for the Eimer and Amend Building, northeast 
corner of Third Avenue and 18th Street, 
New York, DeLemos and Cordes, architects.” 

The finest contract of glazed and poly¬ 
chrome work ever turned out by the Perth 
Amboy Company was the Madison Square 
Presbyterian Church (generally known as Dr. 
Parkhurst’s Church) which was manufactured 
in 1906 just before the Company was merged 
in the Atlantic combination. “The late Stan- 


211 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


ford White,” says an article in the New York 
“Sun,” “never did anything of which he was 
more proud than the creation of that Roman¬ 
esque gem of architecture.” 

The front was a triumph of restrained color. 
The blue in the pediment, the white of the 
angels, the dull-gold tops of the pillars, with 
blue behind, the splendid granite shafts of the 
columns, of a gray that was almost green, the 
apple-green overlaid with gold in the line of 
the eaves, the yellow and cream—yet all so 
quiet, so harmonious, so unobtrusive! 

As these lines are written the church is in 
the hands of the building wreckers and is to 
be replaced by another sky-scraper to be used 
as an annex of the Metropolitan Life Insur¬ 
ance Company. It only seems a few days since 
the present site of the Metropolitan Tower was 
occupied by the old Parkhurst Church, built 
in 1854, while on the opposite corner, where 
the new church was soon to be built, stood the 
old brown-stone residence of Catherine Loril- 
lard Wolfe, well known for her lavish chari¬ 
table gifts, whose life-like portrait looks down 
today upon the visitor to the Metropolitan 


212 


CERAMIC DEVELOPMENT 


Museum of Art. After her death the Insur¬ 
ance Company bought the house and arranged 
an exchange with the Church in order to com¬ 
plete its gigantic building which now covers 
the entire block. On the new site the chef- 
d’oeuvre of Stanford White was erected, and 
now that too is to go. Fortunately, Donn Bar¬ 
ber, the architect, has arranged to take most 
of the exterior material, including some of the 
terra cotta, to use in the new home for the 
Hartford “Times,” which will have the most 
artistic newspaper office building in the coun¬ 
try. The Saint Gaudens pediment on the front 
portico, with its wonderful polychrome terra 
cotta, is to be placed in the Metropolitan 
Museum, while Columbia University will take 
specimens of the exterior white brick, and 
terra cotta cornice, with their Romanesque de¬ 
tail, copied from old Renaissance models dug 
up by Mr. White in his exploration of Italian 
ruins, and will use them for educational pur¬ 
poses. 

About the same time that William C. Hall 
began his experiments at Perth Amboy, 


213 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


William D. Gates started a laboratory at 
Chicago. His attention had been attracted to 
the growing demand for a glazed ware, and 
he thought this would prove to be a cleanly 
and durable material, while at the same time 
allowing the use of color, and thereby create 
a new and more extended field for terra cotta 
endeavor. 

Professor Orton, to whom the Art owes so 
much, had just started his Department of 
Ceramics at the Ohio State University, and 
Gates secured the services of Gorton who was 
one of the first graduates. From this School 
have come some of the ablest young men in 
the business today, notably Fred Ortman, for 
many years the head chemist of the New York 
Company, who now occupies a similar posi¬ 
tion with the Northwestern Company at 
Chicago. 

Soon after beginning his experiments, Mr. 
Gates says that his attention was attracted to 
a peculiar green sample from the kiln in which 
he thought he saw possibilities. Carrying out 
experiments along this line he developed his 
pottery ware, which was named TECO, taking 


214 


CERAMIC DEVELOPMENT 

the first two letters of TErra and COtta and 
using the combination as a pottery mark. This 
peculiar green proved to be a color that har¬ 
monized with most surroundings and scored 
an immediate success. The Company for a 
time advertised the ware quite extensively 
and built up a very satisfactory business in 
art pottery, but lately it has had to neglect it 
for other business. The Company also pro¬ 
duced some very interesting crystal ware, the 
formula of which it later gave to the Amer¬ 
ican Ceramic Society. 

Too much credit cannot be given to Pro¬ 
fessor Edward Orton, Jr., for his work in 
starting the first State Ceramic School. A 
large amount of experimental work is done 
by the students that could not be done in any 
other way. One of his first graduates, Pro¬ 
fessor A. V. Bleininger, now connected with 
the United States Bureau of Standards, has 
grown to fill a most remarkable place in the 
Ceramic Arts. He is a man of the broadest 
scope and in him lies the greatest hope for the 
future of the Art. 


215 


CHAPTER XIV 


ADVANTAGES OF TERRA COTTA 



OREMOST among the advan¬ 
tages of terra cotta as a build¬ 
ing material, may be mentioned 
the facility it affords to archi¬ 
tects to see the actual full sized 
details of the more ornamental portions of , 
their designs before the work is burned, as, 
where no repetition is intended, no moulds 
are used, and the work which is afterwards to 
be burned, and take its place in the building, 
is the model itself. It thus bears the impress 
at once of the mind of the designer, and of 
the skill and knowledge of the modelling 
artist. It can be studied, improved, or modi¬ 
fied, and when entirely satisfactory, burned. 


216 






















ADVANTAGES OF TERRA COTTA 

It is therefore a far better reflex of the person¬ 
ality of the architect than can possibly be the 
case in any other building material. There 
is no other material which can be so readily 
impressed with the conception of the artist, 
as “Clay in the hand of the potter.” No pro¬ 
cess in any handicraft is so beautiful as that 
of the modeller in clay. The ease with which 
the plastic clay answers to the touch of the 
hand, taking a whole succession of symmet¬ 
rical shapes, and seemingly, as it were, instinct 
with the life and thought of the modeller, 
makes the art beautiful and striking beyond 
all others, in which the desired form can only 
be attained by comparatively slow and labor¬ 
ious methods. 

Durability 

A question which naturally suggests it¬ 
self at once to architects and builders, 
in the consideration of terra cotta as a 
building material, is as to its durability. It 
is quite natural to compare terra cotta in 
this respect with stone. The query as to 
whether terra cotta can be ranked with stone 


217 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


in point of durability may be unhesitatingly 
answered in the affirmative. It is without 
doubt the most durable material known. It 
is unaffected by age or climatic change. 
Glazed and enamelled surfaces render it prac¬ 
tically impervious to moisture, and dust and 
dirt may be removed at trifling expense with 
dry brushes or plain water. Having been 
carried, during the process of manufacture, 
to a temperature exceeding 2000° Fahrenheit, 
it is untouched by the heat of conflagration. 
Government requirement for interior parti¬ 
tions is but 1700° Fahrenheit fire test. Sal¬ 
vage in the Baltimore, Buffalo and San Fran¬ 
cisco fires was not only very high, and much 
greater than in any other exterior building 
material, but such damage as occurred was 
from mechanical causes and not from heat. 

The fact that burnt clay of good quality is 
almost indestructible, is proved by the rem¬ 
nants of bricks and tablets discovered by 
Layard and Rawlinson in the ruins of Baby¬ 
lon, in an almost perfect state of preservation. 
A small statuette, taken from the ruins of 
ancient Thebes, which is believed to be not 


218 


ADVANTAGES OF TERRA COTTA 

less than thirty-three hundred years old, is 
covered with hieroglyphics as sharp and as 
perfect in outline and detail as the day it was 
carved and burnt. We have many modern 
illustrations also, in the magnificent old brick 
and terra cotta structures still to be found in 
different parts of England and the Continent, 
affording under the most trying conditions 
of climate, valuable evidences of the durable 
nature of terra cotta. 

One of the choicest specimens of ancient 
terra cotta in existence is exhibited in the 
South Kensington Museum in London. This 
is a medallion, eleven feet in diameter, bear¬ 
ing the arms of King Rene of Anjou, sur¬ 
rounded by a massive border of fruit and foli¬ 
age, and is supposed to have been made in 
the year 1453. It was exposed to the action 
of the weather for more than 400 years, fixed 
in the front wall of a villa near Florence. 

Another fine example is to be found in the 
Church of San Gottardo in Milan. During 
five centuries the tower of this church has 
braved the inclemencies of the seasons, with¬ 
out noticeable traces of decay appearing in 


219 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


the terra cotta work, which is most elabo¬ 
rately carved and of delicate workmanship. 
A close inspection of this tower also reveals 
the interesting fact that the architect, mis¬ 
trusting, perhaps, the resisting power of terra 
cotta against the stress of weather, took care 
to furnish the windows with quoins of stone 
as a protection—a vain precaution, as it is the 
stone work which has suffered from the as¬ 
saults of time, and not the terra cotta. 

Coats of arms of terra cotta, inserted in the 
walls of Hampton Court Palace, near London, 
which have been exposed for four centuries 
to an English climate, are practically un¬ 
harmed by the action of the weather, while 
the brick and stone, and almost every other 
material used in the construction of the 
palace, is more or less worn and decayed. 

In his report on the terra cottas exhibited 
at the Paris Exposition of 1867, Henry Cole 
says, with reference to the durability of the 
material: “It is more durable than even ordi¬ 
nary granite, as may be seen in the lodge in 
Merrion Square, Dublin, which was built 
about 1786. The granite mouldings there are 


220 


ADVANTAGES OF TERRA COTTA 

cut in stone from the Wicklow Mountains, 
and they are all worn away and rounded by 
the action of the rain, while Coade’s terra 
cottas, dated 1788, are sharp as when they 
were first placed on this lodge.” 

Innumerable other examples might be cited, 
proving the superior durability of terra cotta 
for building, as well as for ornamental pur¬ 
poses, but the few cases referred to seem suf¬ 
ficient. It is a fact beyond dispute that in 
faithfully-made and well-burnt terra cotta, we 
have the great and only lasting triumph of 
Man over Nature. For timber will rot; stone, 
even granite, will disintegrate; iron will oxi¬ 
dize; these and all other materials will suc¬ 
cumb to the action of fire; but properly made 
and thoroughly burnt terra cotta will pass 
through the centuries, and be the last to yield 
to those influences to which all natural produc¬ 
tions must give way—the only material known 
which is not only practically fireproof, but 
also, in all architectural employments, time- 
proof and indestructible. 

We cannot pay a more eloquent tribute to 
the durability of terra cotta than by quoting 


221 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

a few sentences from Sir Charles Lyell’s 
“Antiquity of Man.” He says: “In the vast 
changes that this planet has undergone, few 
things remain to mark the arts of its earlier 
inhabitants. Flints, spear-heads, arrow¬ 
heads, fragments of iron, of bronze and of 
pottery are almost all that remain. Of the 
latter, burnt bricks, jars, vases, the human 
figure in burnt clay, are found in the remains 
of submerged towns in the channels of the 
Nile, and in Upper Egypt, in the Mexican 
buried ruins of America and elsewhere, as the 
enduring types of civilizations of peoples and 
races whose names even are not known in the 
pages of history. Granite disintegrates and 
crumbles into particles of mica, quartz and 
felspar. Marble soon moulders into dust of 
carbonate of lime, but hard, well-burnt clay 
endures forever in the ancient landmarks of 
mankind.” 


Indestructibility 

It would be very interesting to trace the 
steady growth of the builder’s art from the 
mud huts of primeval times to the magnificent 


222 


ADVANTAGES OF TERRA COTTA 

structures of the present day. In the first 
days of the human race, with forests almost 
untouched, and the necessity to clear the 
ground for cultivation, wood was almost uni¬ 
versally used for building purposes. As the 
forests became exhausted, wood gave place 
to clay, to stone and to iron. As cities grew 
in size, and land became more valuable, build¬ 
ings were erected closer together, and the 
danger from fire constantly increased. Archi¬ 
tects and builders were thus led to pay more 
attention in construction to the use of im¬ 
perishable materials. Necessity creates de¬ 
mand, and it became a necessity to construct 
large buildings and high buildings. Not less 
necessary was it that these buildings should be 
indestructible. The use of stone, for many 
years so universal, was found by experience 
to be not only expensive but dangerous. 

The difficulty of obtaining a really durable 
building-stone, and the practical experience 
required in its selection, is well known to 
architects. “In erecting large buildings,” 
says Arthur Beckwith, “it is difficult to supply 


223 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

quickly enough stone of a durable quality 
from one quarry. Nearly all stone is not fire¬ 
proof, but cracks when exposed to high heat. 
These causes, without deprecating the use of 
stone, point to the desirability of finding a 
durable fireproof building material, which 
can be relied on always and be supplied in 
large quantities. This presents an opening 
for the use of terra cotta—a material which 
has stood the crucial test of firing. The true 
qualities of terra cotta in its application to 
architecture consist in its merits as a decora¬ 
tive fireproof material, possessing the three 
essentials of color, durability and economy. 
When treated with due regard to construc¬ 
tion, so as to fulfill its part in building as 
honestly as the brickwork of the wall itself, 
the high capacities of the material to receive 
artistic treatment admit of the impress of 
original art being reproduced for the uses of 
the architect, in an almost imperishable 
substance.” 

The great fires of Chicago and Boston, 
which occurred shortly after the above lines 


224 


ADVANTAGES OF TERRA COTTA 

were written, bore conclusive testimony as to 
the accuracy and wisdom of Mr. Beckwith’s 
observations. Public safety, as well as econ¬ 
omy, is fast demanding that buildings should 
be constructed of non-combustible materials. 
These facts, together with the late changes in 
the use of steel construction, have notably 
favored the increased use of architectural 
terra cotta. Well-made and thoroughly burnt 
clay is the only material thus far discovered 
which is practically indestructible by fire, and 
which has opposed all the other elements with 
the desired obstinacy. In this respect, terra 
cotta possesses an element of strength which 
is not shared either by stone or iron. Heat 
which would disintegrate stone or fuse iron 
has merely the effect of rejuvenating terra 
cotta, and giving it the bright, fresh appear¬ 
ance of having just left the kiln. Having 
passed through, in burning, a heat of over 
2000° Fahrenheit, no heat to which terra cotta 
is ever likely to be exposed, even amidst the 
fiercest flames of a Baltimore or San Francisco 
fire, is able to affect it. 


225 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


Lightness 

Another important practical question is 
that of the comparative weight of stone and 
terra cotta, and consequently of the compara¬ 
tive cost of transportation, as well as of the 
expense in installation at the building. With 
terra cotta, unlike stone, no unnecessary or 
dead weight has to be carried. Stone is 
brought to the building in masses and there 
worked up, and the necessary quantity of 
waste makes an excessive amount of useless 
weight which has to be transported. With 
terra cotta, on the other hand, where the work 
is necessarily modelled in the workshops and 
studios of the manufacturer, and moreover is, 
for evenness in burning, made of moderate 
thickness and hollow, the weight to be trans¬ 
ported is reduced to a minimum, and the 
work, having been fitted previous to ship¬ 
ment, once at the building, nothing remains 
but to set it in its proper place. Furthermore, 
the light weight of terra cotta allows a mini¬ 
mum of structural support, and means con¬ 
sequent saving of cost in frame and anchor- 


226 


ADVANTAGES OF TERRA COTTA 

age. Owing to perfect union in wall bond¬ 
ing, many city building ordinances now allow 
terra cotta wall facing to count as part of wall 
thickness. 

Terra cotta, as manufactured in hollow 
blocks, weighs about 70 pounds to the cubic 
foot, or filled, from 100 to 120 pounds, while 
limestone weighs 144 pounds, sandstone from 
140 to 165 pounds and granite 168 pounds 
per cubic foot. Where back-filling is neces¬ 
sary in setting, 120 pounds is an ample allow¬ 
ance in computing the dead weight of archi¬ 
tectural terra cotta in the wall. From the 
above figures, it will be noted that terra cotta 
weighs very much less than the ordinary 
building stones. This is no small advantage, 
when we consider the reduction in freights, 
and the saving in costs of foundations and 
super-structure in the modern skyscraper. 

Economy 

Another valuable quality of terra cotta is 
the unusual opportunity which it offers for 
economy, in that it makes it possible for the 

finest ornamentation to be used at most 

227 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

reasonable cost. For years elaborate orna¬ 
ment, on account of the high cost of hand 
carving, was only used in the most expensive 
structures. Now, by the use of architectural 
terra cotta, by making a plaster mould of 
one piece and pressing many pieces from the 
same mould,—the sculptor’s model for cor¬ 
nice, pediment or frieze can be duplicated at 
relatively low cost. This process of repetition 
is such a saving that it makes feasible the 
employment of the best available talent for 
the creation of the original model. As a 
result, the most pleasing effects can be intro¬ 
duced with the utmost economy. 

In many instances architects furnish accu¬ 
rately figured scale drawings only, perhaps 
further illustrated by rough sketch, or refer¬ 
ence to style, period or example, relying upon 
the manufacturer and his staff trained in 
architecture, color, modelling and sculpture, 
for intelligent assistance in the development 
of his details. 

A very important advantage of terra cotta 
lies in the fact that ornament and modelling 
may be used freely, as, with the model once 


228 


ADVANTAGES OF TERRA COTTA 

made, the material presses at practically no 
increase in cost over plain work. 

Generally speaking, terra cotta costs con¬ 
siderably less than genuine stone, and possibly 
a trifle more than “artificial” stone. In the 
latter, equal perfection of line and modelling 
is absolutely impossible, and there is no com¬ 
parison in point of durability. 

A review of the process of manufacture of 
architectural terra cotta reveals the source of 
its economy—its plasticity and the facility 
with which it may be reproduced. A mould 
once made can be turned over many times. 
Care and thoughtfulness in the design of unit 
and feature with regard to reproduction, yield 
increased discounts in cost. 

Coloration 

The great growth in the popularity of archi¬ 
tectural terra cotta during the present century 
is due in part to the rather tardy recognition 
of its many enduring qualities outlined above, 
in part to the requirements of modern steel 
construction, to which it is peculiarly adapt¬ 
able on account of its combination of strength 


229 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


and lightness, but perhaps most of all to the 
fact that, more than any other building ma¬ 
terial, it meets the demands of beauty and 
attractiveness. Even in buildings designed 
merely for utilitarian purposes there is a 
growing demand that the artistic sense be 
gratified. This idea is well expressed in the 
article on Architectural Terra Cotta, in “The 
Schools” of the Brochure Series, published by 
the National Terra Cotta Society: 

“Architectural terra cotta because of its 
infinite possibilities as regards form, may be 
modelled to express the most delicate beauty 
and charm. It can be made in many tints 
and colors, and in limitless combinations of 
colors, and, what is equally important, it 
retains all of its original qualities. Dirt, 
smoke and soot do not permanently discolor 
its surface; they do no damage that cannot 
easily be undone by the application to the 
terra cotta of ordinary soap and water.” 

Development in the department of the 
ceramic chemist of the manufacturer has 
given so broad a range that almost any color 
or tone can be had, from the dead white, sug¬ 
gestive of Italian marble, through the cream 


230 


ADVANTAGES OF TERRA COTTA 

and buff shades into the grays—some closely 
assimilating the soft warm grays of the 
French Caen stone, and others the subtle 
charm of the marbles of Travertine. In tex¬ 
ture and surface treatment there is no limit. 
The range extends from the natural clay finish 
made impervious with a slip, through matt or 
dull, to lustrous and brilliant enamels; and 
from the smooth or honed finish, through dif¬ 
ferent degrees of tooling, dragging and stip¬ 
pling to any degree of roughness desired. 

The field for the use of color or polychrome 
in terra cotta, for exterior and interior, is very 
broad, and the palette most extensive in tone 
and texture. The enamel applied to the un¬ 
burned body becomes not only a part of and 
inseparable from it, but is absolutely perma¬ 
nent in tone. 

In brief, there is no material employed in 
building which possesses to the same degree 
as architectural terra cotta the advantageous 
qualities of Plasticity, Durability, Indestruc¬ 
tibility, Lightness, Economy and Coloration: 

Plasticity —It permits the employment of 


231 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

modelling, and the use of form and texture in 
any manner that serves the art of Architecture. 

Durability —It does not melt, disintegrate 
or decay, and is therefore the most lasting 
product of Man or Nature. 

Indestructibility — It is impervious to 
moisture, fire-resistant to the highest degree, 
and therefore practically immune against the 
action of Time and the Elements. 

Lightness— It is not only light in weight 
but strong, and therefore admirably adapted 
for use in modern steel construction. 

Economy— It greatly reduces the cost of 
foundation and superstructure on account of 
its lightness; it permits the combination of 
form, color and texture at a minimum of ex¬ 
pense; and it gives the lowest cost of orna¬ 
mentation, particularly where considerable 
repetition is used. 

Coloration— It is supreme among building 
materials in the range of colors which it 
offers, and these colors are not only durable, 
but the surface can be restored at any time to 
its original freshness by the simple process of 
washing with soap and water. 


232 




JOSEPH WINKLE 










WILLIAM MATHIA5LN CHRISTIAN MATHIASLN 




CHAPTER XV 


THE NATIONAL SOCIETY 

HE following history of the 
founding of the National Terra 
Cotta Society is taken from the 
official records compiled by 
Harry J. Lucas at the time. 

During the Fall of 1911, Walter Geer, of the 
New York Company, opened correspondence 
with all of the manufacturers of architectural 
terra cotta in the United States with the view 
of bringing about a National Organization. 
The replies received were so encouraging that 
a call, signed by Messrs. Geer, Hottinger and 
McBean, was issued for a meeting of repre¬ 
sentatives of the several Companies at Chicago 
on December 8,1911. 



233 













THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


A banquet arranged at the Hotel La Salle 
on Friday evening, December 8, was attended 
by twenty-three delegates from the various 
parts of the United States. After the dinner, 
William D. Gates, acting as Toastmaster, 
introduced the speakers, who deliver addresses 
on the subjects indicated:— 

“Competition, Combination or Co-operation” 

Mr. Geer 

“The Chinese Wall of the Twentieth Century 

or the Modern Terra Cotta Plant” . Mr. Wagner 

“ Pacific Coast Conditions ” .... Mr. Dennison 

“Politics of Business and the Business of 

Politics”.Mr. Armstrong 

The meeting of the delegates from the 
several Companies was called to order at 
Hotel La Salle on Saturday morning Decem¬ 
ber 9, 1911, by Mr. Gates, and Mr. Wagner 
was elected Temporary Chairman and Mr. 
Lucas, of New York, Temporary Secretary. 

A roll-call showed that the following 15 
Companies were represented by 23 delegates: 

Brick, Terra Cotta and Tile Company, Corning, 
New York—M. E. Gregory. 


234 



THE NATIONAL SOCIETY 


Conkling-Armstrong Terra Cotta Company, Phila¬ 
delphia, Pennsylvania—I. L. Conkling and T. 
F. Armstrong. 

Federal Terra Cotta Company, Woodbridge, New 
Jersey—De Forest Grant and Norman Grant. 

New Jersey Terra Cotta Company, Perth Amboy, 
New Jersey—Karl Mathiasen and E. V. Es- 
kesen. 

New York Architectural Terra-Cotta Company, 
New York, New York—Walter Geer, F. C. 
Townsend and H. J. Lucas. 

South Amboy Terra Cotta Company, South Am¬ 
boy, New Jersey—P. C. Olsen. 

American Terra Cotta and Ceramic Company, 
Chicago, Illinois—W. D. Gates and E. D. Gates. 

Northwestern Terra Cotta Company, Chicago, Ill¬ 
inois—G. Hottinger and F. Wagner. 

St. Louis Terra Cotta Company, St. Louis, Mis¬ 
souri—D. N. Burruss and R. F. Grady. 

Western Terra Cotta Company, Kansas City, Kan¬ 
sas—Wm. Timmerman. 

Winkle Terra Cotta Company, St. Louis, Missouri— 
Joseph Winkle and J. G. Hewitt. 

Gladdings-McBean and Company, San Francisco, 
California—P. McGill McBean. 

N. Clark and Sons, San Francisco, California—Mr. 
McBean (Proxy). 

Northern Clay Company, Auburn, Washington— 
P. S. MacMichael. 

Steiger Terra Cotta and Pottery Works, San Fran¬ 
cisco, California—W. E. Dennison. 


235 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

I 

Letters pledging cordial support were read 
from the following five Companies, which later 
became Charter Members of the Society: 

O. W. Ketcham, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Maryland Terra Cotta Company, Baltimore, Mary¬ 
land. 

Indianapolis Terra Cotta Company, Indianapolis, 
Indiana. 

Denny-Renton Clay and Coal Company, Seattle, 
Washington. 

Washington Brick, Lime and Sewer Pipe Company, 
Spokane, Washington. 

The Report of the Committee on Constitu¬ 
tion and By-Laws was received, discussed and 
adopted (with some few amendments). 

The Objects of the Society, as stated in 
Article 2 of the Constitution, were as follows: 

Objects 

First. To encourage the production of the 
best materials and the maintenance of high 
and uniform standards of work. 

Second. To spread the knowledge of the 
many advantageous qualities of good archi¬ 
tectural terra cotta by widely advocating its 
merits, particularly through the agency of 


236 


THE NATIONAL SOCIETY 

wise advertising and the publication of books, 
pamphlets and other forms of trade literature. 

Third. To co-operate in the investigation 
and study of the more important technical 
and other problems of the business. 

Fourth. To advance mutual business in¬ 
terests in every legal and proper way, without 
in any manner, directly or indirectly, agreeing 
to maintain prices or suppress competition. 

Fifth. To promote a feeling of confidence 
and friendship among the members, so as to 
secure the benefits of the several objects 
above set forth. 

The following officers were nominated and 
elected: 

President.Fritz Wagner 

First Vice-President - Walter Geer 
Second Vice-President - W. E. Dennison 
Treasurer ----- E. V. Eskesen 
Secretary ----- W. D. Gates 

On motion of Mr. Hottinger, a vote of 
thanks was given to Mr. Geer for “his initia¬ 
tive and zealous efforts in bringing about the 
organization of the National Terra Cotta 
Society.” 


237 



THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

Since this first meeting at Chicago there 
have been fourteen other general meetings of 
the Society, six at Chicago, four at Atlantic 
City, and one each at New York, St. Louis, 
Denver, and New Orleans. 

The Presidents of the Society have been 
Wagner, Powell and Gates; the First Vice- 
Presidents, Geer, Armstrong, Dennison and 
Gates; the Second Vice-Presidents, Dennison, 
Gates, Fackt and McBean; the Treasurer, 
Eskesen; and the Executive Secretaries, 
Lucas, Pendleton and McDaniell. 

In addition to the 20 Charter Members, 
six other members have been admitted: Mid¬ 
land and Denver (1912), Kansas City (1913), 
Atlanta and Atlantic (1915), and Los Angeles 
(1919). Two members have resigned: Mary¬ 
land (1915) and Steiger (1918). This leaves 
a present membership of 24 Companies. 

The Society has adopted and is using Uni¬ 
form Contract and Estimate Forms, and a 
Uniform Weight Schedule. It has also pre¬ 
pared for adoption a Uniform Cost Card, and 
is working on a Uniform Specification, for 
the use of architects. 


238 


THE NATIONAL SOCIETY 

It has exchanged Lists of Agents among its 
members and adopted a Code of Ethics. 

It has conducted through the Bureau of 
Standards of the United States Government a 
very thorough investigation into the causes 
of failure in terra cotta work, and has had 
several very interesting and valuable reports 
on the subject from Professor Bates. 

The formation of the National Brick Manu¬ 
facturers Association, some thirty-five years 
ago, led to the organization of the American 
Ceramic Society, which in turn led to the 
establishment of Ceramic Departments in 
many of the State Universities, and had much 
to do with the scientific development of the 
terra cotta business. Finally, at the annual 
meeting of the National Terra Cotta Society 
held in Chicago, January, 1919, a Committee 
was appointed to co-operate with the Ameri¬ 
can Ceramic Society in the formation of a 
Terra Cotta Division of that organization. 
Later, on the call of this Committee, a meet¬ 
ing was held at the Fort Pitt Hotel, Pittsburgh, 
at which there were present representatives of 


239 


■fc 

THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 

nine terra cotta Companies, and also of the 
United States Bureau of Standards and the 
Ohio State University. A Council was chosen 
consisting of Fred B. Ortman (Northwestern), 
Chairman, R. L. Clare (Federal), E. C. Hill 
(Conkling-Armstrong), and B. S. Radeliffe 
(Midland). Since that date, all of the terra 
cotta Companies have become members. The 
report of the Committee presented at the At¬ 
lantic City meeting in June, 1919, stated that a 
total of fifteen separate and distinct subjects 
were then being investigated, covering prac¬ 
tically all phases of terra cotta manufacture. 
At the same meeting a new Standing Commit¬ 
tee on Technical Matters was appointed by the 
Society to co-ordinate the work of the Na¬ 
tional Terra Cotta Society with that of the 
Terra Cotta Division of the American Ceramic 
Society. 

The Society has published two large edi¬ 
tions of “Standard Construction,” besides a 
series of very elaborate Brochures on “The¬ 
atres,” “Schools” and “Store Fronts,” of 
which new and revised editions are now ready 


240 






THE NATIONAL SOCIETY 

for issue. It also has in hand similar Bro¬ 
chures on “Banks” and “Garages.” 

In connection with the publications of the 
Society, special mention should be made of 
the excellent work of Peter C. Olsen, Chair¬ 
man of the Publicity Committee. All of the 
publications of the National Society have 
been prepared under the supervision of Mr. 
Olsen, and are a lasting memorial to his 
genius. In recognition of his services in this 
connection, a fine silver service was presented 
to Mr. Olsen by the Society at the Meeting at 
Atlantic City in June, 1914. Reference should 
also be made to the fine work done by Samuel 
B. Orth in connection with the preparation of 
the drawings in “Standard Construction.” 

A word of appreciation is also due to the 
memory of the late Arthur Rogers, of Boston. 
Under many difficulties and discouragements 
he founded and for many years maintained a 
very high-class trade journal, which was a 
credit both to himself and to the industry. In 
the “Brick-Builder” he conducted a series of 
competitions for the best designs of terra 
cotta and brick buildings, which were of great 


241 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


benefit in interesting young architects and 
draftsmen in the use of these materials. He 
was always ready to give liberally both of 
his time and money for any object which 
would benefit the cause which he had so much 
at heart. In his death the manufacturers of 
terra cotta have lost one of their oldest and 
best friends. 

At the Conventions of the Society, ad¬ 
dresses have been made and papers read on 
many subjects germane to the business. 

A series of advertisements was published 
at large expense in the “Saturday Evening 
Post,” and a very extensive promotion cam¬ 
paign is now being conducted in the Middle 
West. 

From the above brief summary of the 
Society’s activities, it will be seen that the Ob¬ 
jects stated in its Constitution have been well 
carried out. 


242 


CHAPTER XVI 

THE SOCIETY MEMBERS 

OLLOWING is a complete list 
of the Members of the National 
Terra Cotta Society, arranged 
according to location, and in 
the order of incorporation, with 
brief Histories of the Companies, the names 
of present Officers, and lists of prominent 
Buildings for which terra cotta has been 
furnished: 

Eastern 

1886 NEW YORK ARCHITECUTRAL TERRA- 
COTTA COMPANY, 401 Vernon Avenue, 
Long Island City, New York. 

History: The New York; Company was founded 23 
January, 1886, by Orlando Bronson Potter and Asahel 
Clarke Geer. The Plant occupies a five acre plot on the 



243 














THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


East River, just south of the Queensborough Bridge, in 
Long Island City, Borough of Queens, New York City. 

Officers: Chairman of the Board, Walter Geer; 
President, Richard F. Dalton; Vice-President, Ferdinand 
C. Townsend; Vice-President and Treasurer, Walter 
Geer, Jr.; Secretary, John P. Geib, and Superintendent, 
John Clark. 

Buildings: Rivoli Theatre, New York City; Ritz- 
Carlton Hotel, Philadelphia; Statler Hotel, Detroit; 
Municipal Building, Dallas, Texas; Valley National 
Bank, Des Moines, Iowa, and H. Birks and Son Building, 
Vancouver, British Columbia. 

1893 NEW JERSEY TERRA COTTA COMPANY, 
Singer Building, New York City. 

History: The New Jersey Company was incorpor¬ 
ated 26 November, 1893, a successor to the firm of Mathia- 
sen and Hansen, which began business in 1888. The 
Works are located at Perth Amboy, New Jersey. 

Officers : President, Karl Mathiasen; Vice-Presi¬ 
dent-Treasurer, Eckardt V. Eskesen, and Secretary, Karl 
Mathiasen, Jr. 

Buildings: Hotel Vanderbilt, Montefiore Home, and 
Uptown Post Office, New York City; Palace Theatre, 
Cincinnati, Ohio; Miami Hotel, Dayton, Ohio; and Poli’s 
Palace Theatre, Hartford, Connecticut. 

1895 CONKLING-AMSTRONG TERRA COTTA 
COMPANY, Wissahickon Avenue and Juanita 
Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

History: The Conkling-Armstrong Company was 
founded in January, 1895. by Ira L. Conkling and Thomas 


244 


THE SOCIETY MEMBERS 


F. Armstrong, who had been members of the old firm 
of Stephens, Armstrong and Conkling (1888). Conk- 
ling, until his death in 1915, was the President, and 
Armstrong the Treasurer. The Plant occupies a plot 
of over three acres. 

Officers: President, Thomas F. Armstrong; Vice- 
President, Albert R. Taylor; Secretary, Joseph J. Fred- 
erickson, and Treasurer, Samuel O. Conkling. 

Buildings : Broad Street Station, Baptist Publication 
Building and Bulletin Building, Philadelphia; Wanamaker 
Store, and Bowling Green Building, New York City, and 
Filene Building, Boston, Massachusetts. 

1895 ATLANTA TERRA COTTA COMPANY, Third 
National Bank Building, Atlanta, Georgia. 

History: The Atlanta Company was organized in 
1895 by Victor H. Kriegshaber. It was a successor to 
the firm of Pelligrini and Castelberry (1875), the second 
oldest terra cotta plant in the United States. The stock 
control was acquired by the Atlantic Company in 1908. 
The Plant occupies a plot of about twenty acres at East 
Point, about seven miles from Atlanta. 

Officers: President, William H. Powell; Vice-Pres¬ 
ident, William C. Hall; Vice-President and General 
Manager, Harold B. Wey; Secretary-Treasurer, H. D. 
Hurlbut. 

Buildings: Masonic Temple, Augusta, Georgia; 
Union National Bank, Columbia, South Carolina; City 
Hall, Tampa, Florida; County Court House, Houston, 
Texas; Ansley Hotel, and Terminal Station, Atlanta. 


245 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


1896 BRICK, TERRA COTTA AND TILE COM¬ 
PANY, Corning, New York. 

History: Established in 1893 under the name of the 
Corning Brick, Terra Cotta and Supply Company, and 
also known at different periods as the Corning Brick 
Works and Corning Terra Cotta Works. In 1896, the 
business was acquired by Morris E. Gregory, who adopted 
the style of Brick, Terra Cotta and Tile Company, by 
which the company has since been known. 

Proprietor: Morris E. Gregory. 

Buildings: War College, Washington, District of 
Columbia; Hotel Seneca, Rochester, New York; Hotel 
Utica, Utica, New York; Kalura Temple, Binghamton, 
New York; State Normal College, Albany, New York, 
and Dormitory Columbia College, New York City. 

1903 SOUTH AMBOY TERRA COTTA COM¬ 
PANY, 150 Nassau Street, New York City. 

History: The South Amboy Company was founded 
by the present officers 29 April, 1903, and began business 
at once, having leased the plant known as the Swan Hill 
Pottery at South Amboy, one of the oldest clay manu¬ 
facturing plants in the East. The Plant was purchased 
in 1905, and has since been entirely modernized and en¬ 
larged both as to new buildings, and general power equip¬ 
ment. It now covers about three city blocks. 

Officers: President, Christian Mathiasen; Vice- 
President, William Mathiasen, and Treasurer and Gen¬ 
eral Manager, Peter C. Olsen. 

Buildings: Vancouver Terminal Station, Vancou¬ 
ver, British Columbia; Bush Terminal Building, and 
Lotus Club, New York City; Fireman’s Insurance Build- 


246 


THE SOCIETY MEMBERS 


ing, Newark, New Jersey; Commercial National Bank, 
Charlotte, North Carolina, and Fourth Church Christ 
Scientist, Cleveland, Ohio. 

1906 O. W. KETCHAM TERRA COTTA WORKS, 

Builder’s Exchange, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

History: This business was founded in July, 1906, 
by O. W. Ketcham, who had been connected with the 
former Boston Company, and had later been a dealer in 
building supplies, acting also as local agent at Philadel¬ 
phia for the Excelsior Company. The Plant is located 
at Crum Lynne, Pennsylvania, just north of Chester, on 
the line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. 

Proprietor: Orman W. Ketcham. 

Buildings: Chestnut Street Opera House, and many 
Public Schools, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Masonic 
Temple, Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania; Masonic Temple; 
Camden, New Jersey, and Masonic Temple, Worcester, 
Massachusetts. 

1907 ATLANTIC TERRA COTTA COMPANY, 1170 

Broadway, New York City. 

History: The Atlantic Company was incorporated 
in February, 1907, being a consolidation of three former 
Companies:—Perth Amboy (1879), Excelsior (1894) and 
Atlantic (1897). The Standard Terra Cotta Works was 
purchased in 1907. The Atlantic Company acquired a 
controlling interest in the Atlanta Company (1895), in 
1908, and now owns all of the stock. The Plants are 
located at Tottenville, Staten Island, Perth Amboy and 
Rocky Hill, New Jersey, and Atlanta (East Point), 
Georgia. It is the largest manufacturer of architectural 
terra cotta in the world. 


247 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


Officers : President, William H. Powell; Vice-Presi¬ 
dents, Frank G. Evatt and W. C. Hall; Secretary-Treas¬ 
urer, George P. Putnam; Assistant Treasurer George 
Parsons, and Assistant Secretary, Arthur G. Bisdale. 

Buildings: Woolworth Building, and McAlpin Hotel, 
(Exterior and Grill Room Interior), New York City; 
Union Central Fire Insurance Company Building, Cin¬ 
cinnati, Ohio; Healey Building, Atlanta, Georgia, and 
Masonic Temple, Brooklyn. 

The Woolworth Building, famous for the beauty of 
its design and its extraordinary height, contains more 
terra cotta than any other building in America. The 
Grill Room of the McAlpin is a most elaborate and exten¬ 
sive example of an interior of glazed polychrome work. 

1909 FEDERAL TERRA COTTA COMPANY, 101 
Park Avenue, New York City. 

History: The Federal Company was organized in 
November, 1909, by De Forest Grant. The Plant, located 
at Woodbridge, New Jersey, was completed 22 May, 
1910, and the first delivery of terra cotta was made the 
latter part of that month. 

Officers: President, De Forest Grant; First Vice- 
President, Edwin Thorne; Second Vice-President, Lewis 
R. Morris; Treasurer, W. B. Dinsmore; Secretary and 
Assistant Treasurer, Dwight W. Taylor; Assistant Secre¬ 
tary, Harry Lee King, and Assistant General Manager, 
Norman Grant. 

Buildings: Whitehall Building, Equitable Building, 
Biltmore Hotel, and Racquet Club, New York City; Tray- 
more Hotel, Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Real Estate 
Exchange, Detroit, Michigan. 


248 


THE SOCIETY MEMBERS 


Central 

1888 NORTHWESTERN TERRA COTTA COM¬ 
PANY, 2525 Clybourn Avenue, Chicago, 
Illinois. 

History: The Northwestern Company was incor¬ 
porated 9 January, 1888, a successor to True, Hottinger 
and Company (1886), and True, Brunkhorst and Com¬ 
pany (1877), organized by John R. True, John Brunkhorst, 
Gustav Hottinger and Henry Rohkam, who had been 
connected with the Chicago Terra Cotta Works (1870), 
the oldest manufacturers of architectural terra cotta in 
the United States. The Plant at Clybourn Avenue 
covers twenty-four acres, and is the largest in the 
country. 

Officers : President, Gustav Hottinger; First Vice- 
President, Sherman Taylor; Vice-President and General 
Manager, Harry J. Lucas; Secretary-Treasurer, Adolph 
F. Hottinger; Assistant Sales Manager, George W. Van 
Cleave, and City Sales Manager, John G. Crowe. 

Buildings: Railway Exchange Building, Insurance 
Exchange Building, and Blackstone Hotel, Chicago, Illi¬ 
nois ; Frick Arcade, and McCreary Stores, Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania; and Dime Bank Building, Detroit, Mich. 

1888 AMERICAN TERRA COTTA AND CERAMIC 
COMPANY, Peoples Gas Building, Chicago, 
Illinois. 

History : The American Company was founded by 
William D. Gates in June, 1888. The Plant is located 
at Terra Cotta, Illinois, about 45 miles northwest of 
Chicago on the line of the Chicago and North-Western 


249 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


Railway. The Company also manufactures the well- 
known Teco ware. 

Officers : President, William D. Gates; Secretary- 
Treasurer, Niel H. Gates, and Assistant General Man¬ 
ager, Major E. Gates. 

Buildings: Chicago aud North-Western Terminal, 
and Great Lakes Naval Station, Chicago, Illinois, and 
many Banks, Schools and Office Buildings, Chicago, 
St. Paul and Minneapolis. 

1889 WINKLE TERRA COTTA COMPANY, Cen¬ 
tury Building, St. Louis, Missouri. 

History: The Winkle Company was founded 15 
October, 1889, by Joseph Winkle, a successor to the Win¬ 
kle Terra Cotta Works which he started in 1883. The 
Plant occupies about four acres at 5739 Manchester 
Avenue, within the city limits. 

Officers : President, Andrew Winkle; Vice-Presi¬ 
dent, Andrew J. Hewitt, and Secretary-Treasurer, John 
G. Hewitt. 

Buildings: Fort Dearborn Building, Chicago, Illi¬ 
nois ; Railway Exchange, St. Louis, Missouri; Hillman 
Building, Los Angeles, California; Alaska Building, 
Seattle, Washington; Dayton Building, Minneapolis, 
Minnesota, and Rialto Building, Kansas City, Missouri. 

1893 INDIANAPOLIS TERRA COTTA COM¬ 
PANY, Indianapolis, Indiana. 

History: The Indianapolis Company was incorpor¬ 
ated in April, 1893, a successor to Stilz, Joiner and Com¬ 
pany. Reincorporated July, 1899, and May, 1904. The 
President of the Company, Benjamin D. Walcott, died 


250 


THE SOCIETY MEMBERS 


21 February, 1916. The Company is now controlled by 
William D. Gates and leased to the American Company 
of Chicago. The Plant is located at Brightwood, a few 
miles east of the city. 

Officers: President, William D. Gates; Vice-Presi¬ 
dent, Major E. Gates; Secretary-Treasurer, Niel H. 
Gates, and Manager, George H. Lacey. 

Buildings: Van Camp Packing Company, Lyric 
Theatre, Hampton Court Apartments, Hotel Lincoln,and 
Masonic Building, Indianapolis, Indiana; and Y. M. C. A. 
Building, Anderson, Indiana. 

1898 ST. LOUIS. TERRA COTTA COMPANY, 
Security Building, St. Louis, Missouri. 

History : The St. Louis Company was incorporated 
8 August, 1898. Succeeded a company of same name 
started four years before but never operated success¬ 
fully. The organizers of the present Company were 
R. J. Macdonald (President) and Robert F. Grady (Vice- 
President and Manager). David N. Burruss was elected 
President in 1904, and W. A. Maguire Second Vice- 
President in 1916. The Plant is located at 58th Street 
and Manchester Avenue, St. Louis. 

Officers : President, David N. Burruss; Vice-Presi¬ 
dent-Treasurer, Robert F. Grady; Second Vice-President, 
W. A. Maguire, and Secretary, Edward E. Wall. 

Buildings : Union Electric Light and Power Station, 
Temple Israel, Jane Arcade, King Brindsmede Build¬ 
ing, and Franklin Bank, St. Louis, Missouri, and The 
Temple, Dallas, Texas. 


251 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


1905 WESTERN TERRA COTTA COMPANY, First 
and Franklin Avenue, Kansas City, Kansas. 

History: The Western Company was founded in 
October, 1905, by William Timmerman and Paul C. Baltz, 
who had previously been employed by St. Louis com¬ 
panies. It began business with one kiln, which has since 
been increased to four. 

Officers: President, William Timmerman; Vice- 
President, Walter T. Timmerman, and Secretary and 
Treasurer, Paul C. Baltz. 

Buildings: Temple Building and Church, Kansas 
City, Missouri; Empress Theatre, Grand Rapids, Michi¬ 
gan; Majestic Theatre, San Antonio, Texas; Holy Cross 
Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah; St. John’s Hospital, 
Salina, Kansas, and Farmers Bank, Geneseo, Illinois. 

1910 MIDLAND TERRA COTTA COMPANY, 
Lumber Exchange Building, Chicago, Illinois. 

History: The Midland Company was incorporated 
10 December, 1910. The first President, who retired in 
April, 1918, was William G. Krieg, at one time City 
Architect. The Vice-President, F. S. Ryan, died July 
1918. The Plant occupies a twenty acre plot at West 
16th Street and South 54th Avenue (Cicero, Illinois). 

Officers : President, Hans Mendius; Vice-President, 
August W. Miller, and Secretary-Treasurer, Walter S. 
Primley. 

Buildings: Municipal Pier, Medinah Temple, Sis¬ 
son Hotel, and Elks Club, Chicago, Illinois; Central Trust 
Company, San Antonio, Texas, and Circle Theatre, 
Indianapolis, Indiana. 


252 


THE SOCIETY MEMBERS 


1911 DENVER TERRA COTTA COMPANY, West 

First Avenue and Umatilla Street, Denver, 
Colorado. 

History : The Denver Company was founded 22 
September, 1911, by John Fackt, George P. Fackt, and 
Carl Philip Schwalb. Began operations in March, 1912. 
The capacity of the Plant was tripled two years later. 

Officers: President, John Fackt; Vice-President, 
George P. Fackt, and Secretary-Treasurer, C. P. Schwalb. 

Buildings: Kistler Building, and Union Depot, Den¬ 
ver, Colorado; Stratton Building, Colorado Springs, Colo¬ 
rado; League Building, Galveston, Texas; New Martin 
Building, El Paso, Texas, and Rialto Theatre, Omaha, 
Nebraska. 

1912 KANSAS CITY TERRA COTTA AND 

FAIENCE COMPANY, 19th Street and Man¬ 
chester Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri. 

History: The Kansas City Company was chartered 
4 December, 1912. Successor to Southwestern Terra 
Cotta Company (1910), which bought present site of 
about five acres, but never operated. Reorganized Sep¬ 
tember, 1911, under above name, and for the third time 
in 1912. Has been inactive since Spring of 1915. The 
stock is controlled by interests connected with the New 
Jersey and South Amboy Companies. 

Officers: President, .Eckardt V. Eskesen; Vice- 
President, Marshall S. Neal; Secretary, J. J. Parsons, 
and Treasurer, Ferdinand P. Neal. 


253 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


Pacific 

1886 GLADDING-McBEAN AND COMPANY, 
Crocker Building, San Francisco, California. 

History: The Gladding-McBean Company was in¬ 
corporated 22 March, 1886, as successor to a firm of the 
same name founded at Chicago, 1 May, 1875, by Charles 
Gladding, George Chambers and Peter McGill McBean. 
The Plant is located at Lincoln, with branch at Oakland, 
California. 

Officers: President, Peter McGill McBean; Vice- 
President, Albert J. Gladding; Vice-President, George 
R. Chambers; Secretary-Treasurer, Atholl McBean, and 
Assistant Secretary-Treasurer, Theodore F. Tracy. 

Buildings : Hearst Building, Southern Pacific Build¬ 
ing, and Insurance Exchange Building, San Francisco, 
California; Hamburger Building,,. Los Angeles, Cali¬ 
fornia; Meier and Frank Building, Portland, Oregon, 
and L. C. Smith Building, Seattle, Washington. 

1889 N. CLARK AND SONS, 116 Natoma Street, 
San Francisco, California. 

History: The N. Clark Company was incorporated 
11 January, 1889, succeeding a business started in 1864 
by Nehemiah Clark, one of the California Pioneers. 
The business was conducted at Sacramento until 1887 
when a large plant was built at West Alameda. Shortly 
afterwards, the Sacramento plant was destroyed by fire 
and never rebuilt. The Alameda works were also burned 
in July, 1917, and not rebuilt, owing to war conditions, 
until 1919. 

Officers: President and Superintendent, Albert V. 


254 


THE SOCIETY MEMBERS 


Clark, and Secretary-Treasurer and General Manager, 
George D. Clark. 

Buildings: Islam Temple, and First Church Christ 
Scientist, San Francisco, California; Federal Realty 
Building, Oakland, California; Boyle Heights Library, 
Los Angeles, California; County Court House, Sacra¬ 
mento, California; and Morgan Building, Portland, 
Oregon. 

1903 LOS ANGELES PRESSED BRICK COM¬ 
PANY, Frost Building, Los Angeles, Cali¬ 
fornia. 

History: The Los Angeles Company was incorpor¬ 
ated in March, 1903, being a successor to the Los Angeles 
Pressed Brick and Terra Cotta Company of Santa Mon¬ 
ica, founded by the late Charles H. Frost in 1887. The 
Company owns and operates four large plants, manu¬ 
facturing all kinds of clay products. 

Officers: President, Howard Frost; Vice-President, 
H. West Hughes, and Secretary-Treasurer, Harlow B. 
Potter. 

Buildings: Scottish Rite Cathedral, Joplin, Mis¬ 
souri; Ellanay Theatre, El Paso, Texas; Terry Apart¬ 
ments, Long Beach, California; First National Bank, 
King City, California; Bullocks Department Store, Los 
Angeles, California, and Mittry Theatre, Idaho Falls, 
Idaho. 

1905 DENNY-RENTON CLAY AND COAL COM¬ 
PANY, Hoge Building, Seattle, Washington. 

History: The Denny-Renton Clay and Coal Com¬ 
pany was organized in June, 1905, taking over the 


255 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


business of the Denny Clay Company, which had suc¬ 
ceeded a business started in 1882 under the name of 
the Puget Sound Fire Clay Company. In 1912 the new 
Company bought out the business of the Western Clay 
Company and the Diamond Brick Company, of Port¬ 
land. The plants, all of which are operated under the 
one management, are located at Van Asselt, Taylor, 
Renton, and Portland. The paving brick plant at 
Renton is the largest single unit plant in the world. 
At the Van Asselt plant, which is located inside the 
city limits of Seattle, is manufactured architectural 
terra cotta, silica brick and magnesite brick. The 
silica and magnesite plant capacity was increased in 
1919 and is now in shape to supply the rapid and grow¬ 
ing demand for these products. 

Officers: President, E. J. Mathews; Vice-President, 
Moritz Thomsen; Secretary and General Manager, 
John F. Keenan. 

Buildings: Kings County Court House, Times Build¬ 
ing, Artie Club Building, Home Economics Building, 
University of Washington, University State Bank Build¬ 
ing, and Franklin High School. 

1908 NORTHERN CLAY COMPANY, Auburn, 
Washington. 

History: The Northern Clay Company was incor¬ 
porated in October, 1908, successor to the Northern Clay 
Products Company, which had purchased a business 
started by Arthur H. Meade in May, 1903, and known as 
the Auburn Pottery. 

Officers: President, Paul S. MacMichael; Vice- 
President, John Wooding; Secretary, I. B. Knicker¬ 
bocker, and Treasurer, K. R. Ehle. 


256 


THE SOCIETY MEMBERS 


Buildings: Joshua Green Building, Securities Build¬ 
ing, Pantages Theatre, Frederick and Nelson Building, 
and Home Economics Building (University of Wash¬ 
ington), Seattle, Washington. 

1909 WASHINGTON BRICK, LIME AND SEWER 
PIPE COMPANY, Spokane, Washington. 

History : The Washington Company was incorpor¬ 
ated in 1909, a successor to the Washington Brick and 
Lime Company. The name was changed when the latter 
company was consolidated with the Spokane Sewer Pipe 
Company. The Plants are located at Clayton, Spear and 
Freeman, Washington, and Bayview, Idaho. Mr. J. H. 
Spear the founder of the Company (1886) sold his 
interests and retired in May, 1919. 

Officers: President, A. B. Fosseen; Vice-President, 
Victor E. Piollet; Secretary, C. P. Lund, and Treasurer, 
E. C. Van Brundt. 

Buildings : Paulsen Building, and Crescent Store, 
Spokane, Washington; Montana Building, Lewistown, 
Montana; Wilcox Building, Portland, Oregon; Rialto 
Building, Butte, Montana; and First National Bank, 
Wallace, Idaho. 


257 


CHAPTER XVII 

FORMER MANUFACTURERS 

N addition to the twenty-four 
Companies now active in the 
business, during the past fifty 
years at least twenty-eight other 
plants have been at different 
periods engaged in the manufacture of archi¬ 
tectural terra cotta in the United States. Most 
of these Companies were the out-growth of 
old brick or pottery works, and began opera¬ 
tions prior to the year 1900. Nearly all of 
these works were located in the East. All are 
now out of the business, five having failed, ten 
having been merged in other companies, and 
the balance having discontinued operations. 



258 











FORMER MANUFACTURERS 


1875 B. KREISCHER AND SONS, Kreischerville, 
Staten Island. 

Were pioneers in the manufacture of fire brick in 
the United States. Balthaser Kreischer, the founder, 
was born in Germany. In 1836 he came to New York. 
In 1845 he began the manufacture of fire bricks, which 
before that time were all imported from England. 
He bought a supply of clay in New Jersey, and 
built a small plant on leased ground in Goerck Street, 
New York City. Having outgrown his works in the 
city, in 1852 he purchased extensive clay deposits at 
Charleston (now Kreischerville), Staten Island, built new 
works, and then abandoned the New York plant. Later 
he admitted his three sons to partnership, and finally the 
business was incorporated under the old firm name. The 
products included fire brick, face brick, and terra cotta. 
Mr. Kreischer died in 1886. Company failed in 1899. 

1875 SOUTHERN TERRA COTTA WORKS, 
Atlanta, Georgia. 

About 1872, P. Pelligrini and another Italian named 
Georgi began operating a small plant for the manufac¬ 
ture of flower pots, chimney tops and architectural terra 
cotta. In 1875 Jack Castelberry bought an interest in 
the business, and they organized the firm of Pelligrini 
and Castelberry, which was sometimes called the South¬ 
ern Terra Cotta Company. About 1893, some of the 
workmen started a little plant which later became known 
as the Atlanta Terra Cotta Company. 

1879 PERTH AMBOY TERRA COTTA COM¬ 
PANY, Perth Amboy, New Jersey. 

Succeeded A. Hall and Sons Fire Brick Works in 


259 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


1879. Officers from 1881 to 1907, Edward J. Hall, 

President; William C. Hall, Vice-President; George P. 
Putnam, Treasurer; Harry A. Lewis and Oswald Speir, 
Directors. For nearly thirty years leading manufacturers 
of terra cotta in the East. Merged in the Atlantic Com¬ 
pany in 1907. 

1879 H. A. LEWIS ARCHITECTURAL TERRA 
COTTA WORKS, Boston, Massachusetts. 

Began in 1879 as Lewis and Wood. Later, Lewis and 
Lane. After July, 1883, under above style. Business 
sold to Perth Amboy Company in 1887. 

1879 LONG ISLAND TERRA COTTA COMPANY, 

Ravenswood, Long Island. 

Established by Rudolph Franke in 1879. The plant 
was located on the East River opposite 53rd Street, New 
York City. Discontinued in 1880. 

1880 BOSTON TERRA COTTA COMPANY, Bos¬ 

ton, Massachusetts. 

Organized 19 October, 1880. Successor to Boston 
Fire Brick Company. Officers: R. G. F. Candage, Presi¬ 
dent; George M. Fiske, Treasurer; James Taylor, Super¬ 
intendent. Sold to the Perth Amboy and New York 
Companies December, 1893, and the business liquadated. 

1883 A. HALL TERRA COTTA COMPANY, Perth 
Amboy, New Jersey. 

Founded in 1883 by Alfred Hall, two years after his 
retirement from the Perth Amboy Company. The officers 


260 


FORMER MANUFACTURERS 


were: Alfred Hall, President; his son Eber H. Hall, 
Vice-President; Fred. C. Greenley, Treasurer, and Robert 
W. Taylor, Superintendent. Eber H. Hall died in Jan¬ 
uary, 1886, and Alfred Hall in April, 1887. The plant 
was then shut down. Two years later the works were 
leased jointly by the Perth Amboy and New York Com¬ 
panies and finally closed. 

1883 LAKE VIEW TERRA COTTA AND BRICK 
COMPANY, Chicago, Illinois. 

Failed in 1884, and did not resume business, the plant 
being leased by the Northwestern Company. 

1885 BURNS-RUSSELL COMPANY, Baltimore, 

Maryland. 

Large manufacturers of face brick. Early in the 
eighties they began to make terra cotta under style of the 
Baltimore Terra Cotta Company. In 1905 they sold their 
terra cotta business to the Maryland Company. 

1886 WALNUT HILLS BRICK AND TERRA 

COTTA COMPANY, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Incorporated as a Stock Company in 1886. Succeeded 
the firm of Wilson and Gould. No further reports. 

1886 GLENS FALLS TERRA COTTA AND BRICK 
COMPANY, Glens Falls, New York. 

Succeeded Clark Colored Brick and Terra Cotta 
Company, which failed in 1884. J. M. Coolidge was 
President, and Charles Scales, Treasurer. Discontinued 
manufacture of terra cotta early in the nineties. 


261 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


1886 WILLIAM GALLAWAiY, Philadelphia, Penn¬ 

sylvania. 

An old well-established pottery business which has 
made a little terra cotta from time to time, but none of 
late years. 

1888 STEPHENS, ARMSTRONG AND CONK- 
LING, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

Began in 1886 as Stephens and Leach; changed in 

1887 to Stephens, Leach and Conkling, and in 1888 to 
above style. In 1893 became a branch of the New York 
Company. In 1894, Armstrong and Conkling withdrew 
and founded the Conkling-Armstrong Company. The 
two Stephens brothers retired from the terra cotta busi¬ 
ness in 1896. 

1890 CALVIN PARDEE TERRA COTTA WORKS, 
Perth Amboy, New Jersey. 

In January, 1890, Calvin Pardee, a wealthy coal miner 
of Philadelphia, purchased about 166 acres on the Rari¬ 
tan River and erected a plant for the manufacture of 
front, fire and paving bricks, sewer pipe and floor and 
glazed tiling. But little, if any, architectural terra cotta 
was made. Robert W. Taylor, of the old! A. Hall Terra 
Cotta Company, was the first Superintendent. 

1890 STANDARD TERRA COTTA WORKS, Perth 
Amboy, New Jersey. 

Began as Architectural Terra Cotta Works in 1890, 
and in 1892 was incorporated as Standard Terra Cotta 
Company. Failed in 1898 and was taken over by Henry 
Doscher, who continued the business under above name. 
Merged in the Atlantic Company in 1907. 


262 


FORMER MANUFACTURERS 


1892 WHITE BRICK AND TERRA COTTA COM- 

PANY, Clayton, Massachusetts. 

Was first known as the White Brick and Art Tile 
Company, the title being later changed to the above when 
the Company was incorporated in 1892. The leading 
spirit in the organization was Charles Siedler, who had 
made a fortune in the tobacco business. The Company 
discontinued operations early in the twentieth century. 

1892 NEW BRITAIN ARCHITECTURAL TERRA 

COTTA COMPANY, New Britain, Conn. 

Was incorporated in 1892 with Philip Corbin as 
President; C. E. Wetmore, Treasurer; George P. Post, 
Secretary, and G. S. Barkentin, Manager. They pur¬ 
chased three acres of land at Berlin Junction and estab¬ 
lished their works there. Had two kilns. 

1893 STATEN ISLAND LUMBER COMPANY, 

Staten Island, New York. 

Manufactured terra cotta from the Spring of 1895 
to 1898 inclusive. Officers: J. Edward Addicks, Presi¬ 
dent ; George Kelly, Treasurer; Robert W. Lyle, Secre¬ 
tary and General Manager; James B. Toomey, Superin¬ 
tendent. This Company failed in 1895. Was reorganized 
in 1898 under the name of Staten Island Clay Company, 
after which it did not make any terra cotta. 

1894 EXCELSIOR TERRA, COTTA COMPANY, 

Rocky Hill, New Jersey. 

Incorporated in January, 1894, as successor to the 
Partridge, Powell and Storer Company, manufacturers 
of face brick. Merged in Atlantic Company, 1907. 


263 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


1897 ATLANTIC TERRA COTTA COMPANY, 

Tottenville, Staten Island. 

In the Spring of 1897, a meeting was held at one 
of the Good Government Clubs in New York, at which 
were present DeForest Grant, William D. Frerichs, S. S. 
Whitehurst and Charles U. Thrall. At this meeting it 
was decided to form a terra cotta company to be located 
at Tottenville, Staten Island. Later in the same year 
the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company was organized. De 
Forest Grant became its President and General Manager; 
S. S. Whitehurst, Sales Manager; William D. Frerichs, 
Superintendent, and Charles U. Thrall, Assistant Super¬ 
intendent. Grant had formerly been Manager of the 
New York Office of the Staten Island Lumber Company, 
and Frerichs, Whitehurst and Thrall had all been con¬ 
nected with the Perth Amboy Terra Cotta Company, 
where they had received their technical training. The 
Company turned out its first material September, 1897. 
In January, 1907, the Company entered the combination 
of the Atlantic, Perth Amboy, Excelsior, and Standard 
Companies. 

1898 STEIGER TERRA COTTA AND POTTERY 

WORKS, San Francisco, California. 

Was organized 28 November, 1898, by members of 
the City Street Improvement Company, the largest con¬ 
tracting concern on the Pacific Coast. WalterE. Dennison 
was made President and continued as such up to the end. 
It developed from a three to an eleven kiln plant and 
produced a general line of clay wares. It was the first 
on the Pacific Coast to engage in the manufacture of a 


264 


FORMER MANUFACTURERS 


general line of acid earthenware. It also developed 
thru-an-thru terra cotta, invented by its President, and 
first employed in the San Francisco Hospital in 1916. 
The plant was totally destroyed by fire 8 March, 1917, 
and it was decided to liquidate. The Company made 
the terra cotta for the Grant, Monadnock, and Rialto 
Buildings, the Humboldt Savings Bank Building, the 
first terra cotta structure erected in San Francisco after 
the fire of 1906, and for many other buildings. The 
Company was a member of the National Terra Cotta 
Society. 

1901 ROGERS TERRA COTTA COMPANY, Stan- 

wick, New Jersey. 

Organized in April, 1901. A close corporation, all 
the stock being held by the Rogers family. Name changed 
in 1913 to Central Terra Cotta Company. Has made a 
little terra cotta from time to time. 

1902 AMERICAN CLAY PRODUCTS COMPANY, 

Forty Fort, Pennsylvania. 

Began business on a small scale in October, 1902, but 
had little success, and discontinued some years later. The 
plant was dismantled and the contents sold at auction in 
the Spring of 1916. 

1905 NORTH EASTERN TERRA COTTA COM¬ 
PANY, Bradford, Pennsylvania. 

This Company was organized by several practical men 
who had been employed at New York and elsewhere. 
It never had much success and after a short existence 
suspended operations for lack of sufficient capital. 


265 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


1905 MARYLAND TERRA COTTA COMPANY, 
Baltimore, Maryland. 

This Company acquired the terra cotta business of 
the Burns-Russell Company in September, 1905, and was 
incorporated under the above name. The principal offi¬ 
cers, John J. Kelly and Harry P. Boyd, were connected 
with the National Building Supply Company. The Com¬ 
pany did a very small business and was discontinued in 
1915. It was a member of the National Terra Cotta 
Society. 

1908 CHICAGO TERRA COTTA COMPANY, 
Chicago, Illinois. 

In March, 1908, the name of the Hahne-Brunkhorst 
Company, owning a plant at Blodgett, about one mile 
west of Highland Park, Illinois, was changed to Chicago 
Terra Cotta Company. Alfred Brunkhorst, who was 
formerly connected with the Northwestern Terra Cotta 
Company, was Vice-President. It is not known how 
much terra cotta business this Company did. They were 
formerly in the brick business, and when Brunkhorst 
came with them changed their name and apparently 
engaged in the manufacture of terra cotta. This Com¬ 
pany was purchased by Northwestern Terra Cotta Com¬ 
pany about 1 January, 1910. 

1911 KANSAS CITY TERRA COTTA COMPANY, 
Kansas City, Missouri. 

This Company was started in December, 1910, by 
A. F. Brooker, a lawyer originally from Columbia, South 
Carolina, and a man by the name of Slater, who was at 
one time with the Conkling-Armstrong Terra Cotta Corn- 


266 


FORMER MANUFACTURERS 


pany. The plant began business in March, 1911. Brooker 
withdrew from the Company in September, 1912, and 
started the National Terra Cotta Company immediately 
thereafter. This Company went into bankruptcy in 
January, 1916, having been in difficulties for some time. 
Harvey Stiver, a builder and general contractor of Kan¬ 
sas City, became interested in the property in 1914. 

1915 UNITED STATES TERRA COTTA COM¬ 
PANY, Chicago, Illinois. 

This Company was incorporated 1 November, 1915, 
with John G. Crowe as President. Mr. Crowe had for¬ 
merly been President and Treasurer of the American 
Terra Cotta and Ceramic Company. Fred F. Ellersdor- 
fer was Secretary and Treasurer. He had been with 
the Northwestern Company for years and lost his posi¬ 
tion with the Company at the time of the change in man¬ 
agement. They started to erect a plant at Harvey, 
Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. The concern never made 
any headway and it is not known whether or not they 
ever actually manufactured any material. Mr. Crowe 
is now the City Sales Manager of the Northwestern 
Terra Cotta Company. 


267 


CHAPTER XVIII 

WHO’S WHO IN TERRA COTTA 

0 apology is necessary, for ap¬ 
pending to this Story of Terra 
Cotta, brief biographies of the 
men now or formerly prominent 
in the business. The intention 
is to record the life histories of those who 
have attained leadership, and who are rep¬ 
resentative, of the progress and development 
of the craft. If any name is missing, it is 
due to the fact that the necessary data could 
not be obtained. It seemed better to omit 
mention of any individual rather than to rely 
on incomplete information. While this is 
most regrettable, no other course was possible 
under the circumstances. 



268 











WHO’S WHO IN TERRA COTTA 


THOMAS F. ARMSTRONG, President of the Conk- 
ling-Armstrong Company, was born near South Amboy, 
New Jersey, 31 August, 1869. Graduated at Hacketts- 
town Institute. In 1888, he purchased the interest of 
Lucien Leach in the firm of Stephens, Leach and Conk- 
ling, which then became Stephens, Armstrong and Conk- 
ling. In 1894, he sold his interest in the firm to the 
Stephens brothers and, with Ira L. Conkling, organized 
the Conkling-Armstrong Company, of which he was Sec¬ 
retary and Treasurer until the death of Mr. Conkling 
in 1915, when he became President. He was First Vice- 
President of the National Terra Cotta Society in 1914 and 
1915, and again in 1918. Fraternal Orders: Mason and 
Odd Fellows. Clubs: Rotary, and Manufacturers (Direc¬ 
tor and Secretary). Director, Pennsylvania Society of 
New Jersey. Ten years member of Philadelphia Council 
and President of same. Former member Board of City 
Trusts, and Park Commissioner. Former President of 
Master Builders Exchange. Hobby: Folks. Residence: 
2226 Tioga Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

STUART R. AUDSLEY, Superintendent of Construc¬ 
tion and Repairs of the Atlantic Company, was born at 
Liverpool, England, 10 April, 1864. Was educated at 
Vernon Academy, Liverpool, England. After graduating, 
took up the study of architecture, becoming an articled 
pupil in his father’s firm, W. and G. Audsley, architects 
of London and Liverpool, taking the five-year course of 
the Royal Institute of British Architects, qualifying as an 
architect in 1887. Came to the United States in 1888, 
and entered the office of Cady, Berg and See, architects 
of New York City. Left their employ in August of the 
same year to enter the service of the Perth Amboy Corn- 


269 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


pany as draftsman; made Chief Draftsman the follow¬ 
ing year, and two years later, Superintendent of the 
Plant. When the Perth Amboy Company entered the 
Atlantic combination in 1907, he was reappointed Super¬ 
intendent, and held that position' until February, 1916, 
when he was promoted to the position of Superintendent 
of Construction and Repairs over their five Plants. He 
was closely connected from the first with the efforts of 
the Perth Amboy Company to produce polychrome terra 
cotta for exterior uses. Clubs: East Jersey and Perth 
Amboy Country, Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Former 
member Nassau Club, Princeton, Progress Club and St. 
George’s Society, New York City. Residence: 17 Jaques 
Avenue, Rahway, New Jersey. Address: Perth Amboy, 
New Jersey. 

PAUL C. BALTZ, Secretary and Treasurer of the West¬ 
ern Company, was born at St. Louis, Missouri, 24 March, 
1879. Educated at Public School and Business College. 
Member Clifton Heights A. F. & A. M. (St. Louis), 
Scottish Rite and Shriner, Kansas City, Kansas. Hobby: 
Music. Residence: 606 North 17th Street, Kansas City, 
Kansas. 

JOHN JOSEPH CARNEY, Assistant Secretary of the 
Eastern Terra Cotta Association, was born 8 October, 
1882. Graduate of Public School, New York City. 
Started 15 January, 1897, with R. Hoe and Company, 
New York, and continued with this concern until made 
assistant bookkeeper. Went with the New York Com¬ 
pany, 27 May, 1903, as estimate clerk; in November, 
1905, became bookkeeper, and in January, 1911, was 
made Purchasing Agent and Traffic Manager. Appointed 


270 


WHO’S WHO IN TERRA COTTA 


*9 


Assistant Secretary of the Eastern Terra Cotta Associa¬ 
tion, March, 1916. In August, 1917, returned to the New 
York Company. In October, 1918, was appointed Army 
Field Clerk, Officers Training Camps Division, Head¬ 
quarters Eastern Department, Governors Island, New 
York; resigned 1.5 April, 1919. Returned as Assistant 
Secretary, Eastern Terra Cotta Association, 19 May 1919. 
Fraternal Order: Knights of Columbus. Hobby: Base¬ 
ball. Residence: 147 East 30th Street, New York. Ad¬ 
dress: 1133 Broadway, New York. 

GEORGE DICKSON CLARK, General Manager, Secre¬ 
tary and Treasurer, N. Clark and Sons, was born in 
Sonoma County, California, 9 November, 1857. Educa¬ 
tion : High School. Was taught the potter’s trade in the 
Sacramento plant of his father. Went to San Francisco 
at the age of twenty to take charge of the selling end, 
and has been on the “job” ever since. Patriotic Society: 
Native Sons of the Golden West of California (Past 
Grand President). Fraternal Orders: Golden Gate Com- 
mandery 16, Knights Templar (Past Commander) ; Islam 
Temple A. A. O. N. M. S.; San Francisco Lodge 3, 
B. P. O. Elks. Clubs: Bohemian, and Union League of 
California (Past President). Hobby: Practical Politics. 
Residence: Menlo Park, California. Address: 116 Na- 
toma Street, San Francisco, California. 

JOHN CLARK, Superintendent of the New York Com¬ 
pany, was born at Atherstone, Warwickshire, England, 
15 December, 1865. Education: Public School. First 
worked at the Perth Amboy Company, then with the 
Boston Company until 1886. Since then with the New 
York Company. Hobby: Photography. Residence: 292 


271 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


Lockwood Street, Astoria, New York. Address: 401 
Vernon Avenue, Long Island City, New York. 

W. E. COLEMAN, Assistant Sales Manager of the 
Washington Company, was born at Wahoo, Nebraska, 9 
January, 1885. Graduated at the University of Nebraska, 
degree of A. B. Vice-President, A. B. Fosseen and Com¬ 
pany, Yakima, Washington, for six years, from January, 
1913, to May, 1919; five months in present position. 
Fraternal Orders: Masons and Elks. Club: Spokane 
University. Residence: 1207 South Oak Street, Spokane, 
Washington. Address: Care Washington Brick, Lime 
and Sewer Pipe Company, Spokane, Washington. 

JOHN GOLBERT CROWE, City Sales Manager of the 
Northwestern Company, was born at Chicago, 12 July, 
1879. Education: Public School. Started to work for 

t. 

the American Company in 1893. Occupied various posi¬ 
tions, and resigned 1915. Fraternal Orders: Elks, Knights 
of Columbus. Clubs: Illinois Athletic, Chicago Archi¬ 
tectural. Residence: 39 South Central Park Boulevard, 
Chicago, Illinois. 

RICHARD F. DALTON, President of the New York 
Company, was born in Ireland, 30 May, 1886. Grad¬ 
uated at New York University, LL.B., 1911. He is a 
lawyer, business man, director various Irish National 
interests. He has been connected with the New York 
Company since 1907, commencing as assistant to the 
President, and occupying since then the positions of As¬ 
sistant Treasurer and Treasurer, and now of President 
of the Company. Member Bar Association, New York 
City. Residence: 722 Coster Street, Bronx. Address: 
401 Vernon Avenue, Long Island City, New York. 


272 


WHO’S WHO IN TERRA COTTA 


WALTER EMERSON DENNISON, former President 
of the Steiger Company, was born on a farm at Kankakee, 
Illinois, 17 August, 1856. Educated at Ohio Wesleyan 
University, Delaware, Ohio, class of 1877, degree A. B. 
Member of Beta Theta Pi Society. He is now a farmer. 
He was Vice-President of the National Terra Cotta So¬ 
ciety, of which he is now Honorary Life Member. He is 
also member of the Sons of the American Revolution, 
Mayflower Society, California Genealogical Society, and 
Life Member of the American Red Cross. Clubs: Com¬ 
monwealth of California, Merchants Exchange of San 
Francisco, and Beta Theta Pi of New York City. Hobby: 
Angling. Summer home: Kankakee Ranch, Merced 
County, California. City address: 2150 Santa Clara 
Avenue, Alameda, California. 

ECKARDT V. ESKESEN, Vice-President, Treasurer 
and General Manager of the New Jersey Company, was 
born in Jutland, Denmark, 13 August, 1868. Was em¬ 
ployed in the Import and Export business at Copenhagen 
up to 1891. Came to America, 21 April, 1891, and 
started work with the New York Company in the Press¬ 
ing Department. Secretary and Treasurer, Matawan Tile 
Company, Matawan, New Jersey. President, Royal Co¬ 
penhagen Porcelain and Danish Arts Store, 563 Fifth 
Avenue, New York City. Director, First National Bank, 
Perth Amboy, New Jersey. President, Kansas City Terra 
Cotta and Faience Company. Treasurer of the National 
Terra Cotta Society since 1911. Trustee, American- 
Scandinavian Foundation. Club: Columbia Yacht, New 
York City. Residence: Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Town 
House: 535 West 113th Street, New York City. Address: 
Singer Building, New York City. 


273 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


FRANK G. EVATT, Vice-President of the Atlantic 
Company, was born in 1873. Started with the Boston 
Terra Cotta Company in 1888; went with the Boston Fire 
Brick Company in 1893, and became Superintendent of 
their Plant in 1897, leaving when the plant was destroyed 
by fire in 1899. He was then with M. E. Gregory at 
Corning for a little over a year, and joined the original 
Atlantic Company in 1901. Subsequently at Pittsburgh 
for a number of years as representative of the new Atlantic 
Company, and since January, 1918, has been at their 
New York Office as Vice-President of the Company. Fra¬ 
ternal Orders: Knight Templar and 32 Degree Masonic. 
Clubs: Pittsburgh Athletic and Episcopal. Residence: 
137 North Parkway, East Orange, New Jersey. Ad¬ 
dress: 1170 Broadway, New York City. 

GEORGE POSTEL FACKT, Vice-President and Gen¬ 
eral Manager of the Denver Company, was born at Mas- 
coutah, Illinois, 22 December, 1884. Education: Engi¬ 
neer of Mines in Ceramics at Ohio State University. 
Graduated 1907. Connected with brick business in Mas- 
coutah, Illinois, until 1903. At Ohio State University 
1903 to 1907. Ceramist with St. Louis Company, June, 
1907, to September, 1911. Organized present Company 
with Carl Philip Schwalb in September, 1911. In 1917, 
with Schwalb, acquired the Denver Clay Products 
Company, manufacturers of brick. Fraternal Orders: 
Various Masonic Bodies, including Shrine. Club: 
Denver Athletic. Hobby: Terra Cotta. Residence: 
Denver, Colorado. 

JOHN FACKT, President of the Denver Company, was 
born in Germany, 22 September, 1854. Educated in 


274 


WHO’S WHO IN TERRA COTTA 


Public Schools of Germany, and Mascoutah, Illinois. 
Director of P. H. Postel Milling Company, Mascoutah, 
Illinois. Also interested in brick business at Mascoutah, 
and in various other business enterprises in Texas and 
Missouri. At present active in the P. H. Postel Mill¬ 
ing Company, Mascoutah. Not active in the terra cotta 
business. Residence: Mascoutah, Illinois. 

GEORGE MANN FISKE, former Treasurer of the 
Boston Company, was born at Medfield, Massachusetts, 
2 May, 1842. Educated at Common Schools. During 
the Civil War, at the age of twenty, he enlisted, 20 Au¬ 
gust, 1862, in the United States Army, and served for 
one year. Member Grand Army of the Republic. In 
1870, he entered the employ of James Edmond and Com¬ 
pany, and remained in their employ until 1877. He then 
formed a partnership with Eugene B. Coleman under the 
firm name of Fiske and Coleman. In 1879 the Boston 
Fire Brick Works merged with the firm of Edmond and 
Company, with Fiske and Coleman as Managers. In 
1880 the Boston Terra Cotta Company was organized, 
and a year later, upon the death of Mr. Edmond, Mr, 
Fiske was elected Treasurer, which position he retained 
until the Company was sold to the New York and Perth 
Amboy Companies in 1893 and the business liquidated. 
He then became General New England Agent of the New 
York Company under a ten-year contract. Residences: 
Home Farm at Medfield, Massachusetts, and house at 
Cliff Island, Maine. Address: Auburndale, Mass. 

ARTHUR BENJAMIN FOSSEEN, President and Gen¬ 
eral Manager of the Washington Company, was born at 
Leland, Illinois, 6 October, 1876. Education: Two years 


275 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


in Civic Department, University of Minnesota. Member 
of Beta Theta Pi Society. Six years with Hennepin 
Lumber Company; three years with Hellusen Lumber 
Company; nine years with A. B. Fosseen and Company, 
Yakima, Washington; six months with Washington 
Brick, Lime and Sewer Pipe Company. Fraternal 
Orders: Shriner and Elks. Clubs: Spokane City, Spo¬ 
kane Country, Spokane University, Seattle College, 
Yakima Country. Member of Chamber of Commerce, 
both of Spokane and Tacoma. Address: 1117 West 
Tenth Avenue, Spokane, Washington. 

HOWARD FROST, President and General Manager of 
the Los Angeles Company, was born at Chicago, Illinois, 
28 August, 1883. Member Masonic Order. Clubs : Jona¬ 
than and Los Angeles Athletic. Residence: 1526 Fourth 
Avenue. Address: Frost Building, 145 South Broadway, 
Los Angeles, California. 

MAJOR EARL GATES, Assistant General Manager of 
the American Company, was born at Hinsdale, Illinois, 1 
April, 1886. Education: Ohio State University, two 
terms. Fraternal Order: Masonic. Clubs: Woodstock 
Country, Illinois Athletic. Hobby: Terra Cotta. Resi¬ 
dence: Terra Cotta, Illinois. 

NEIL HURLBERT GATES, Treasurer of the American 
Company, was born at Hinsdale, Illinois, 23 November, 
1884. Education: Ohio State University (2 terms), Uni¬ 
versity of Illinois, one year. Member Kappa Sigma Fra¬ 
ternity. Clubs: Illinois Athletic, Central Manufacturing 
District. Residence: Winnetka, Illinois. Address: 1808 
Prairie Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. 


276 


WHO’S WHO IN TERRA COTTA 


WILLIAM D. GATES, President and General Manager 
of the American Company, was born at Ashland, Ohio, 
29 July, 1852. Graduated at Wheaton College, A. M., 
1875. Admitted to Illinois Bar, 1879. Since 1883, in 
terra cotta business. Ex-President, National Brick Manu¬ 
facturers Association; Ex-President, American Ceramic 
Society. Clubs: Chicago Athletic, Chicago Builders, Chi¬ 
cago Architectural, Cliff Dwellers, Olympian Fields Coun¬ 
try. Residence: 5217 Cornell Avenue, Chicago. Address: 
1808 Prairie Avenue, Chicago. 

WALTER GEER, Chairman of the Board of Directors 
of the New York Company, was born at Williamstown, 
Massachusetts, 19 August, 1857. Educated at Greylock 
Institute, South Williamstown, Massachusetts; Williams 
College, A. B., 1878, A. M., 1881; National University 
Law School, Washington, District of Columbia, LL.B., 
1881, LL.M. 1882. Assistant Manager of the Walter 
A. Wood Mowing and Reaping Machine Company, Chi¬ 
cago, 1882 to 1886. President of the New York Archi¬ 
tectural Terra-Cotta Company, 1886 to 1919, now Chair¬ 
man of the Board; Vice-President of the New York 
Knife Company, and of the Wallkill River Company; 
Director of the Brunswick Site Company. Author of 
“Genealogy of the Geer Family in America” (1914). 
Hobby: History. Member of Sons of the Revolution, 
Society of Colonial Wars, Phi Beta Kappa Society and 
Delta Psi Fraternity. Life member of the New York 
Historical, New York Genealogical and Biographical 
(Trustee), Saint Nicholas and New England Societies. 
Sometime member of the Puritan Club (Boston), Art 
(Philadelphia), Maryland (Baltimore), Metropolitan 
(Washington), Manhattan, Calumet, Strollers, Saint An- 


277 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


thony and Lawyers (New York), and Sleepy Hollow 
Country (Scarboro). Club: University, New York. 
Residence: 200 West 58th Street, New York City, and 
“Crow’s Nest,” Ossining, New York. Address: 401 Ver¬ 
non Avenue, Long Island City, New York. 

WALTER GEER, JUNIOR, Vice-President and Treas¬ 
urer of the New York Company, was born in New York 
City, 27 May, 1889. Graduated Sheffield Scientific School, 
Yale University, Ph.B., 1911. Member Sachem Club. 
Eight years with the New York Company, starting in 
factory, and later in office work. Member of Society of 
Colonial Wars, and Sons of the Revolution. Club: Yale, 
New York. Hobby: Horses. Served with the 7th Regi¬ 
ment New York Infantry on Texas border 1916. Resi¬ 
dence: Ossining, New York. Address: 401 Vernon Ave¬ 
nue, Long Island City, New York. 

JOHN P. GEIB, Secretary of the New York Company, 
was born in New York, 4 August, 1871. Education: 
Public School, Evening High School, Pratt Institute, 
Brooklyn, Alexander Hamilton Institute. He started 
with the New York Company in 1886 and has been with 
them ever since, filling successively positions of office 
boy, estimator, city salesman, Assistant Secretary, and 
Secretary and General Sales Agent. Member Masonic 
Order. Clubs: Democratic (local) and Economic. Resi¬ 
dence: 415 Willard Avenue, Woodhaven, Long Island, 
New York. Address: 401 Vernon Avenue, Long Island 
City, New York. 

ALBERT JAMES GLADDING, First Vice-President 
of Gladding, McBean and Company, was born in Chicago, 


278 


WHO’S WHO IN TERRA COTTA 


Illinois, 8 September, 1858. Education: First year in 
High School. Commenced in a minor position under his 
father with Gladding, McBean and Company in June, 
1875, and has been with them at the factory ever since. 
Fraternal Order: Masonry. Address: Lincoln, Placer 
County, California. 

ROBERT FRANKLIN GRADY, Vice-President and 
Manager of the St. Louis Company, was born at Miami, 
Missouri, 10 November, 1860. Education: Civil Engi¬ 
neer. United States Assistant Engineer 1886 to 1891; 
from 1891 to 1898 Superintendent Evens and Howard 
Fire Brick Company, St. Louis, Missouri. Vice-Presi¬ 
dent and General Manager St. Louis Company from 1898 
to date. Fraternal Orders: Royal Arcanum, A. F. and 
A. M., 32d degree S. R. Residence: 5523 Cobany Ave¬ 
nue, St. Louis, Missouri. Address: 5811 Manchester 
Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri. 

DE FOREST GRANT, President of the Federal Com¬ 
pany, was born in New York City, 13 May, 1869. Grad¬ 
uated Yale University, A. B., 1891. Member Psi Upsilon 
Fraternity. Began business with New York Central Rail¬ 
way Company as assistant to the Vice-President, Walter 
Webb, where he remained about two years. He then 
travelled in Europe for several years, and on his return 
in 1896 took an executive position with the Staten Island 
Lumber Company. In 1897 he organized The Atlantic 
Terra Cotta Company, of which he became President and 
General Manager, and built the plant at Tottenville, Staten 
Island. When the new* Atlantic Company was formed in 
1907 he was elected President. In 1909 he withdrew from 
that Company and organized the Federal Company, of 


279 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


which he has been President since the start. He is a 
member of the Society of Colonial Wars, Society of War 
of 1812, and Legion Medal of Honor. Clubs: Union, 
Racquet, Tuxedo, Calumet and City. Hobby: Big Game 
Hunting. Residences: Grindstone Neck, Winter Har¬ 
bor, Maine, and 70 East 54th Street, New York City. 
Address: 101 Park Avenue, New York City. 

MORRIS E. GREGORY, Proprietor of the Brick, Terra 
Cotta and Tile Company, was born at Canton, New York, 
29 July, 1864. Graduated at Corning Free Academy, 
1886. Taught school for four years in New Jersey. 
Entered the employ of predecessors in business in July, 
1890, as bookkeeper. Purchased interest of business in 
January, 1896. Also manufacturer of Paving and Build¬ 
ing Brick. Ex-President of the National Brick Manu¬ 
facturers Association, and of the New York State 
Builders Association; President of the Corning Automo¬ 
bile Club for three years, and at present a Director of 
the State Association. Member Sons of American Revo¬ 
lution. Fraternal Orders: 32d Degree Mason, Knight 
Templar, Shriner and Elk. Clubs: Corning and Keuka 
Lake. Residence: 21 East Fourth Street, Corning, 
New York. 

WILLIAM CLAIBORNE HALL, Vice-President of the 
Atlantic and Atlanta Companies, was born at New 
Brighton, Staten Island, New York, 10 July, 1881. 
Graduated Yale A. B. 1904. Delta Kappa Epsilon 
Society. Clubs: Capital City, Piedmont Driving, 
Druid Hills Golf, Atlanta, Squadron A, New York. 
Summer home: Cherokee Dunne, East Hampton, Long 
Island. Residence: 51 Inman Circle, Atlanta, Georgia. 
Address: 1170 Broadway, New York City. 


280 


WHO’S WHO IN TERRA COTTA 


JOHN GEORGE HEWITT, Secretary, Treasurer and 
General Manager of the Winkle Company, was born near 
York, England, 12 February, 1862. Education: Common 
School. Was with Laclede-Christy Company, manufac¬ 
turers clay products, from 1874 to 1889. From 15 Octo¬ 
ber, 1889, in present position. Fraternal Order: Masonic. 
Club: Rotary. Hobby: Terra Cotta. Residence: 6107 
Victoria Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri. Address: Century 
Building, St. Louis, Missouri. 

ADOLPH F. HOTTINGER, Secretary and Treasurer 
of the Northwestern Company, was born at Chicago, Illi¬ 
nois, in 1872. Education: Public and High School. Pri¬ 
vate course in Chemistry. Ceramic Chemist for above 
Company for twenty-three years, and four years as Fac¬ 
tory Manager. Club: Illinois Athletic. Residence: 1108 
Oakdale Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. 

GUSTAV HOTTINGER, President of the Northwestern 
Company, was born in Vienna, Austria, 24 March, 1848. 
Education: High Shcool and Academy of Fine Arts. 
Came to Chicago in 1869, and secured employment as a 
decorator. Began work as a modeller with the Chicago 
Terra Cotta Works in 1870. Ten years later he went 
with the firm of True, Brunkhorst and Company, which, 
on the death of John Brunkhorst in 1886, became True, 
Hottinger and Company. When the Northwestern Terra 
Cotta Company was formed in 1888 he was elected Secre¬ 
tary, and later, in February, 1890, was elected President 
of the Company, the position which he still occupies. 
Fraternal Order: Mason. Club: Illinois Athletic. Hobby: 
Terra Cotta. Residence: 1054 Oakdale Avenue, Chicago, 
Illinois. 


281 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


HARRY DAVID HURLBUT, Secretary and Treas¬ 
urer of the Atlanta Company, was born at Montclair, New 
Jersey, 26 January, 1877. Education: Chattanooga High 
School and one year University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 
Tennessee. Business career: ten years office work, 
Southern Railway. Three years, building inspector, 
Southern Railway. Eleven years, Atlanta Terra Cotta 
Company. Residence: 42 Grady Place, Atlanta, Georgia. 
Address: East Point, Georgia. 

JOHN FRANCIS KEENAN, General Manager and 
Secretary of the Denny-Renton Clay and Coal Company, 
was born in County Dublin, Ireland, 11 November, 1863. 
Has been connected with this Company for the past 27 
years, beginning his work as shipping clerk at the Van 
Asselt plant of the Company; promoted to Superinten¬ 
dent of the Company’s plant located at Taylor, Wash¬ 
ington. In 1908, Mr. Keenan made a trip East, inspecting 
all of the large sewer pipe plants, which resulted in the 
rebuilding and remodelling of the Taylor plant into one 
of the largest and best equipped in the country. He 
has invented several labor saving devices, which include 
a ring-cutting machine and a sewer-pipe turner, power 
driven, which will handle any size up to 36 in. by the mere 
manipulation of a lever. In 1912 he was appointed Gen¬ 
eral Manager of the Company. Clubs: Artie and Engi¬ 
neers. Vice-President of the Manufacturers Association; 
President of the Northwestern Clay Products Associa¬ 
tion. Hobby: Driving his “Stutz.” Residence: 1147 20th 
Avenue, North. Address: Seattle, Washington. 

ORMAN WESLEY KETCHAM, Proprietor of the O. 
W. Ketcham Works, was born at Hempstead, Long 


282. 


WHO’S WHO IN TERRA COTTA 


Island, 29 January, 1865. Educated Pratt Institute 
(Architectural). Business career: Began with the Boston 
Company in the New York office, later to the factory, and 
back again to New York. In 1893, opened the Philadel¬ 
phia office for them; at the death of John Evatt took the 
management of both New York and Philadelphia offices, 
until they ceased to operate in 1894; then opened his own 
office in Philadelphia; respresented as agent the Excelsior 
Company for twelve years, then started his own plant. 
Clubs: Manufacturers, Old York Country, Franklin In¬ 
stitute, Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, Pennsylvania 
Chamber of Commerce, Philadelphia Automobile. Hobby: 
Golf. Residence: Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania. Ad¬ 
dress : Master Builders Exchange, 24 South Seventh 
Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

HARRY LEE KING, Assistant Secretary, and Sales 
Manager of the Federal Company, was born on Staten 
Island, New York, 3 May, 1882. Business career: One 
year with Mills and Gibb. In 1898, became assistant to 
Thomas Van Every. Employed by The Atlantic Terra 
Cotta Company 1900 to 1906, and by Atlantic Terra Cotta 
Company 1906 to 1908. With Federal Company since 
1909. Club: Rotary. Hobby: Boys’ Clubs. Residence: 
320 West 84th Street, New York City. Address: 101 
Park Avenue, New York City. 

VICTOR H. KRIEGSHABER, founder and former 
President, Atlanta Company, was born at Louisville, Ken¬ 
tucky in 1859. Education: Civil Engineer for four and 
a half years. Practiced Civil Engineering twelve years. 
Was Engineer in charge Central Railway of Georgia; 
then in business at Atlanta since 1891. Organized and 


283 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


was Chairman first year of War of Atlanta War Camp 
Community Service. Ex-President of Chamber of Com¬ 
merce; President, Hebrew Orphan Home. Director, At¬ 
lanta Associated Charities; Director, Federation of Jewish 
Charities and American Jewish Relief Committee. Vice- 
President, Atlanta Loan and Savings Bank. Fraternal 
Orders : Mason, Shriner. Clubs: Rotary, Ingleside. Resi¬ 
dence: Atlanta, Georgia. Address : 814 Candler Build¬ 
ing, Atlanta, Georgia. 

GEORGE HARRISON LACEY, General Manager of 
the Indianapolis Company, was born at Gravesend, County 
Kent, England, 31 July, 1855. Education: City of London 
College, London, England. Was articled to an Architect 
and Surveyor in the City of London in 1872, and con- 

❖ 

tinued in that profession until 1884, when he came to 
America. Went to Idaho and was ranching there until 
1888, when in consequence of a bad accident he returned 
in the East, and became draftsman for Stephens, Arm¬ 
strong and Conkling at Philadelphia, continuing with 
them until Fall of 1889. He then went with the Perth 
Amboy Company, and remained until 1896, when he be¬ 
came Superintendent of the Indianapolis Company, and 
subsequently General Manager, which position he has re¬ 
tained up till now. Hobby: Photography. Residence: 
2545 College Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana. 

HARRY ASHMEAD LEWIS, former Proprietor of the 
H. A. Lewis Architectural Terra Cotta Works, was born 
in England in 1854 of American parents; came to Amer¬ 
ica at an early age and settled in Boston. In 1879 he 
began the manufacture of terra cotta at Boston under 
the style of Lewis and Wood, which a year later became 


284 


WHO’S WHO IN TERRA COTTA 


Lewis and Lane. July, 1883, he changed the name to the 
H. A. Lewis Architectural Terra Cotta Works. Four 
years later, in 1887, he sold his business to the Perth 
Amboy Company and became their Philadelphia Agent, 
with office in the Drexel Building. When this Company 
was consolidated with the Atlantic Company in 1907, he 
was connected with the latter Company for about a year, 
and then was with the New York Company for some 
time. From 1912 to 1914 he was with the Northwestern 
Company, at Chicago. Since then he has not been inter¬ 
ested in the terra cotta business. During the Great War 
he was attached to the Ordnance Department of the 
United States Army with rank of Colonel. Club: Ritten- 
house, Philadelphia. Address: 1710 Market Street, Phil¬ 
adelphia, Penn. 

HARRY J. LUCAS, Vice-President and General Man¬ 
ager of the Northwestern Company, was born at Wash¬ 
ington, District of Columbia, 7 February, 1871. Educa¬ 
tion : High School. Began career in terra cotta business 
in August, 1890, with the New York Company, as clerk; 
was successively, stenographer, bookkeeper, Purchasing 
Agent, assistant to Superintendent, Assistant Treasurer, 
Vice-President and Sales Manager. Resigned in 1912 
to manage National Terra Cotta Society. With that or¬ 
ganization until August, 1915, when elected Vice-Presi¬ 
dent and General Manager of the Northwestern Com¬ 
pany. Societies: American Ceramic, American Red Cross. 
Fraternal Orders: Mispah Lodge Free and Accepted 
Masons (New York) ; Pentalpha Chapter Number 206, 
Royal Arch Masons; Coeur De Leon Commandary, 
Knights Templar. Clubs: Manhattan, New York City, 
Chicago Motor, Chicago Architectural, and Evanston 


285 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


Golf, Evanston, Illinois. Hobby: Golf. Residence: Edge- 
water Beach Hotel, Chicago. Address: 2525 Clybourn 
Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. 

CHARLES P. LUND, Secretary of the Washington 
Company, was born at Fargo, North Dakota, 17 March, 
1876. Education: University of Michigan, LL. B. Busi¬ 
ness career: Lawyer; President, Cheney Light and Power 
Company; Director, Security National Bank; Attorney, 
Scandinavian American Bank. Clubs: University and 
Country, Spokane. Hobby: Golf. Residence: 624 West 
15th Avenue, Spokane, Washington. Address: 1220 Old 
National Bank Building, Spokane, Washington. 

PETER McGILL McBEAN, President of Gladding, 
McBean and Company, was born at Lancaster, Ontario, 
Canada, 14 January, 1844. Secretary of Gladding, Mc¬ 
Bean and Company from 1886 to 1894; President, from 
1894 to date. Clubs: Pacific Union, San Francisco, and 
Burlingame Country, Burlingame, California. Hobby: 
Golf. Residence: Winter—Fairmont Hotel, San Fran¬ 
cisco, California; Summer—Burlingame, California. 
Address: Crocker Building, San Francisco, California. 

PAUL S. MAC MICHAEL, President of. the Northern 
Clay Company, was born at Newton, Iowa, 28 November, 
1874. Education: Common and High School and Black¬ 
burn College (partial course). Fraternal Orders: Mason 
32nd Degree and Mystic Shriner. Residence: Seattle, 
Washington. 

CPIRISTIAN MATHIASEN, President of the South 
Amboy Company, was born at Aalborg, Denmark, 5 No¬ 
vember, 1861. Education: Public Schools, Denmark and 


286 


WHO’S WHO IN TERRA COTTA 


United States. Started in clay industry in 1874 with the 
A. Hall and Sons Pottery, in Perth Amboy. From 1882 
to 1884 was with the Boston Company as model maker. 
Then came back to Perth Amboy with the newly formed 
A. Hall Company. From 1885 to 1892 was with the 
Perth Amboy Company. In 1892, he went with Mathia- 
sen and Plansen, as Superintendent of Plant. With the 
New Jersey Company until 1903, when the South Amboy 
Company was formed. President, Mathol Investment 
Company, Perth Amboy. Governor, Perth Amboy City 
Hospital. Patriotic Society: New Jersey Militia Re¬ 
serves. Fraternal Order: Masonic Past Master. Club: 
Craftsman’s. Hobby: Automobiles. Residence: 216 
Kearny Avenue, Perth Amboy, New Jersey. 

KARL MATHIASEN, President of the New Jersey 
Company, was born at Thisted, Jutland, Denmark, 18 
March, 1860. Began with the old A. Hall Pottery, Perth 
Amboy, and started work in the pressing department 
when A. Hall and Sons commenced making terra cotta 
at Perth Amboy in 1877. Went later on to Boston and 
worked under James Taylor as Pressing Foreman in the 
Boston Works. Went with Taylor to Ravenswood, Long 
Island, when the New York Company was formed in 
1886. Began the manufacture of terra cotta in 1887 
under firm name of Mathiasen and Hansen, which later 
was changed to New Jersey Terra Cotta Company. Presi¬ 
dent of the Matawan Tile Company, and Secretary of 
the Royal Cophenhagen Porcelain and Danish Arts Store, 
New York City. In 1910, he was decorated by the King 
of Denmark with the order of “Knight of Danebrog.” 
Club: Danish Royal Yacht, Copenhagen, Denmark. Resi¬ 
dence : Keyport, New Jersey. Summer home: Camp Den- 


287 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


mark, Fourth Lake, Adirondacks. Winter home: Mel¬ 
rose, Florida. Address : Singer Building, New York City. 

KARL MATHIASEN, JUNIOR, Secretary of the New 
Jersey Company, was born at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, 
5 July, 1890. Education: Montclair Academy, and Prince¬ 
ton University. Degree: Bachelor of Literature. Pri¬ 
vate Secretary to American Minister to Denmark, 1913 
to 1914. With the New Jersey Company, 1914 to 1919. 
Patriotic Society: Field Artillery Corps Officers Train¬ 
ing School Association. Club: Key and Seal, Princeton. 
Hobby: Tennis. Residence: Fanwood, New Jersey. Ad¬ 
dress: 149 Broadway, New York City. 

WILLIAM MATHIASEN, Vice-President of the South 
Amboy Company, was born at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, 
18 August, 1875. Education: Public Schools, and School 
of Architecture, Columbia University. Started as boy 
in Pressing Department, New Jersey Company, advancing 
gradually to position of Chief Draftsman. In 1903 be¬ 
came one of the incorporators of the South Amboy Com¬ 
pany. Vice-President, Mathol Investment Company, Perth 
Amboy. Patriotic Society: New Jersey Militia Reserves. 
Hobby: Automobiles. Residence: 233 High Street, 
Perth Amboy, New Jersey. 

PETER CHRISTIAN OLSEN, Treasurer and General 
Manager of the South Amboy Company, was born at 
Copenhagen, Denmark, 17 February, 1881. Received a 
Grade School education. Came to America in 1890. 
Three years later, began the study of modelling and draw¬ 
ing with Domingo Mora, a Spanish sculptor who was con¬ 
nected with the Perth Amboy Company. After about 
five years training, went into the Perth Amboy modelling 


288 


WHO’S WHO IN TERRA COTTA 


shops for a short time. From there he went to the New 
Jersey Company, then to the Winkle Company at St. 
Louis, and later to the Northwestern at Chicago, where 
he remained about a year. While in Chicago he studied 
sculpture with the evening classes of the Chicago Art 
Institute. He then returned to NewYork, where he made 
models for fine interior decorations. When the South 
Amboy Company was formed in 1903, he became one of 
the incorporators, and has been connected with theCom- 
pany ever since. Member of New Jersey Militia Re¬ 
serves. Fraternal Order: Elks. Club: Raritan Yacht, of 
Perth Amboy (Commodore for two terms). Vice-Presi¬ 
dent of Perth Amboy Trust Company; Secretary and 
Treasurer of Mathol Investment Company; Chairman 
of Perth Amboy Harbor Commission (two terms). 
Hobby: Yachting. During the Great War he passed all 
examinations for a commission as Captain in the Ord¬ 
nance Department, United States Army, and was so 
notified the day the Armistice was signed, 11 November, 
1918. Has since received commission of Captain in 
United States Reserves. Residence: 69 Water Street, 
Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Address: 150 Nassau Street, 
New York City. 

FRED BENSON ORTMAN, Ceramic Engineer, North¬ 
western Company, was born at New Salem, Ohio, 5 Jan¬ 
uary, 1888. Degree of Ceramic Engineer from Ohio State 
University. Member of Kappa Sigma Fraternity. Busi¬ 
ness career: One year, Kiln Burner, Alton Brick Com¬ 
pany. Two years, Chief Ceramist, New York Company; 
three years, Assistant General Manager, in charge of Pro¬ 
duction and, one year, Secretary, in charge of Sales and 
Production. Two years, Ceramic Engineer, Northwestern 


289 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


Company. Chairman Terra Cotta Division of American 
Ceramic Society. Residence: 1709 Ridge Avenue, Evans¬ 
ton, Illinois. Address: 2525 Clybourn Avenue, Chicago, 
Illinois. 

JAMES RICHARD OWENS, Assistant Treasurer of 
the New York Company, was born in old Greenwich Vil¬ 
lage, New York City, 19 February, 1847. Received a 
Public School education. During the Civil War, he en¬ 
listed April, 1864, at the age of seventeen, in the 53rd 
RegimentNew YorkStateVeteranVolunteers, and served 
fifteen months, until mustered out in July, 1865. From 
1869 tO' 1888 he was General Manager of the Howe Ma¬ 
chine Company for New York, Vermont and Pennsyl¬ 
vania. Since June, 1888, he has been connected with the 
New York Company. Residence: Mansion House, 
Brooklyn, New York. Address: 401 Vernon Avenue, 
Long Island City, New York. 

GEORGE PARSONS, Assistant Treasurer of the Atlan¬ 
tic Company, was born at Fazeley, England, 22 July, 1860. 
He began his business career as bookkeeper with George 
Shey and Company, Ltd., Tamworth, England. Has since 
been connected with the Perth Amboy, Boston and In¬ 
dianapolis Companies. Clubs: West End Gun, Hugue¬ 
not, Staten Island; Perth AmboyGun, Perth Amboy, New 
Jersey, and Metuchen Rod and Gun, Metuchen, New Jer¬ 
sey. Hobby: Clay Pigeon Trap Shooting. Residence: 
155 Kearny Avenue, Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Ad¬ 
dress: Perth Amboy, New Jersey. 

VICTOR E. PIOLLET, Vice-President and General 
Sales Manager of the Washington Company, was born at 


290 


WHO’S WHO IN TERRA COTTA 


Wysox, Pennsylvania, 8 February, 1886. Education: 
High School, with two years at Cornell University, 
Ithaca, New York. Raised on a farm; one year in real 
estate; nine years with Washington Brick, Lime and 
Sewer Pipe Company. Patriotic Society: Constitutional 
Government League. Fraternal Order: Elks. Clubs: 
Spokane City, Spokane Country, Spokane Athletic, Spo¬ 
kane University and Spokane Chamber of Commerce. 
Hobby: Golf. Residence: 924 Lincoln Street, Spokane, 
Washington. Address: Care of Washington Brick, Lime 
and Sewer Pipe Company. 

WILLIAM HENRY POWELL, President of the Atlan¬ 
tic Company, was born at Brooklyn, New York, 27 No¬ 
vember, 1870. Education: Public School and High 
School, Brooklyn. With Perth Amboy Company, 1885 
to 1892; General Manager, Partridge, Powell and Storer 
Company, 1892 to 1894; Treasurer and Manager, Ex¬ 
celsior Company, 1894 to 1905, and President, 1905 to 
1907; Vice-President, Atlantic Company, 1907 to 1909, 
and President, 1909 to date. Clubs: Manhattan and 
Railroad, New York City, and Nassau, of Princeton. Di¬ 
rector, Perth Amboy Trust Company, Perth Amboy, New 
Jersey; President, Atlanta Terra Cotta Company, Atlanta, 
Georgia; President, National Terra Cotta Society, 1917 
and 1918; President, Eastern Terra Cotta Association. 
Residence: The Wellsmore, Broadway and 77th Street, 
New York City. Address: 1170 Broadway, New York 
City. 

GEORGE PALMER PUTNAM, Treasurer of the At¬ 
lantic Company, was born at Buffalo, New York, 6 De¬ 
cember, 1842. Educated at Private Schools. In 1865, 



291 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


he became Cashier of the Buffalo- Water Works. In 1868, 
he went into the leather business with William H. Gard¬ 
ner. He was Trustee of the General Hospital, Buffalo, 
and Trustee and Treasurer of the Calvary Presbyterian 
Church. From 1881 to 1907, he was Secretary and Treas¬ 
urer of the Perth Amboy Company, and since 1907 has 
held the same position with the Atlantic Company. Clubs: 
Manhattan and City, New York City, and Prouts Neck 
Country, Maine. Residence: 16 Bayview Avenue, New 
Rochelle, New York. Address: 1170 Broadway, New 
York City. 

CARL PHILIP SCHWALB, Secretary and Treasurer of 
the Denver Company, was born at Mascoutah, Illinois, 26 
April, 1877. Education: Denver, Colorado, Public 
Schools. Director of P. H. Postel Milling Company, 
Mascoutah, Illinois; Director of Merchants Bank, Den¬ 
ver; President and Treasurer of the Denver Clay Prod¬ 
ucts Company. Fraternal Orders: Various Masonic 
Bodies. Clubs: Denver Athletic and Denver Motor (Di¬ 
rector). Hobby: Automobiles (one of the pioneers in 
motoring in Colorado). Residence: Denver, Colorado. 

ALBERT HENRY SHEFFIELD, Secretary of the 
American Company, was born at Worcester, Massachu¬ 
setts, 8 December, 1876. Graduated at Brown Univer¬ 
sity, Ph. B. Member Delta Upsilon Fraternity. Busi¬ 
ness career: Building Construction, Granite, Limestone, 
Terra Cotta. Patriotic Society: American Legion. Fra¬ 
ternal Orders: Masonic Bodies. Clubs: Chicago Press, 
Minneapolis Athletic. Residence: 953 Foster Avenue, 
Chicago, Illinois. Address: 1808 Prairie Avenue, Chi¬ 
cago, Illinois. 


292 


WHO’S WHO IN TERRA COTTA 


OSWALD SPEIR, Manager Southern District, Glad¬ 
ding, McBean and Company, was born at New Orleans, 
Louisiana, 18 August, 1864. Special course in Archi¬ 
tecture, Brooklyn Institute Arts and Sciences. Entered 
employ of Perth Amboy Company in the Fall of 1879 as 
office boy. Elected Director 1890, serving until early 
part of year 1905. General Sales Agent for some years 
in New York City. In 1893, became Assistant General 
Manager in charge of plant operation, continuing as Sales 
Manager. From 1905 to 1907, Sales Manager, Richey, 
Browne and Donald, Ornamental Iron. Since 1908 with 
Gladding, McBean and Company, of San Francisco. 
From 1913 to 1919, Vice-President Lavensaler-Speir Cor¬ 
poration, Commercial Minerals. In 1918 and 1919, Vice- 
President, Pacific Marine and Construction Company of 
San Diego, California, construction of concrete ships 
under United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet 
Corporation. Patriotic Society: American Red Cross. 
Technical Societies: American Institute of Architects; 
New York Academy of Sciences; American Ceramic 
Society. Clubs: Faculty, University of California; Jona¬ 
than, Los Angeles, Cuyamaca, San Diego. Hobby: Art. 
Residence: Los Angeles, California. Address: Trust and 
Savings Building, Los Angeles, California. 

GEORGE FRANK STEPHENS, founder of Stephens, 
Armstrong and Conkling, Sculptor and Lecturer, was 
born at Rahway, New Jersey, 28 December, 1859. Grad¬ 
uate of Rutgers College and Pennsylvania Academy of 
Fine Arts. Worked several years on sculpture of new 
City Hall, Philadelphia. Has since been Secretary and 
Treasurer of Stephens, Cooper and Company, architec¬ 
tural decorations and stone carving. Treasurer of New 


293 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


York Company, 1894. Instructor in modelling in several 
art schools. Instructor in Drexel Institute. Lecturer on 
Economics, Henry George Lecture Association, also for 
University Extension, and New York Board of Educa¬ 
tion. Wrote “Money and Currency” pamphlet on the 
Money Question from Single Tax standpoint. Member 
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Single Tax So¬ 
ciety, Philadelphia. Clubs: Philadelphia Sketch, Art, 
Fellowship of Pennsylvania, Academy 'of Fine Arts, 
Philadelphia; National Arts, New York. Founder with 
the architect, Will Price, of the Single Tax village, “Arden 
Home,” Arden, Delaware. 

HARRY G. STEPHENS, former partner of Stephens, 
Armstrong and Conkling, was born at Elizabeth, New 
Jersey in 1862. Education: Preparatory School and 

Rutgers College. Manager of Sales of Stephens, Arm¬ 
strong and Conkling, later Stephens and Company; also 

partner and Manager of Sales, Stephens, Cooper and 
Company, ornamental plaster, and stone carving. Later, 
Eastern Manager, Republic Creosoting Company, of In¬ 
dianapolis, Indiana. Clubs: National Arts and Man¬ 
hattan, New York; Art, Philadelphia; Westmoreland, 
Richmond, Virginia; Merion Cricket; Academy of Fine 
Arts and Single Tax. Residence: 523 Hansberry Street, 
Germantown. Address: Transportation Building, Phila¬ 
delphia. 

DWIGHT W. TAYLOR, Secretary and Assistant Treas¬ 
urer of the Federal Company, was born in New York 
City, 25 October, 1869. Graduated Columbia, A. B., 
1891, A. M., 1893. Member Alpha Delta Phi Fraternity. 
With Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Corn- 


294 


WHO’S WHO IN TERRA COTTA 


pany, 1892 to 1897. Assistant Treasurer, The Atlantic 
Company, 1898 to 1907. Secretary and Assistant Treas¬ 
urer, Atlantic Company, 1907 to 1909. Secretary and 
Assistant Treasurer, Federal Company, 1909 to date. 
Clubs: University and New York Athletic. Residence: 
500 Madison Avenue, New York City. Address: 101 
Park Avenue, New York City. 

WILLIAM TIMMERMAN, President of the Western 
Company, was bom at Chicago, Illinois, 6 November, 
1867. Educated in Private School. Charter member 
Clifton Heights A. F. & A. M. 520 (St. Louis). 
Residence: 2215 North 5th Street, Kansas City, Kansas. 

WALTER T. TIMMERMAN, Vice-President of the 
Western Company, was born at Chicago, Illinois, 4 No¬ 
vember, 1880. He is a Ceramic Chemist by profession. 

FERDINAND C. TOWNSEND, Vice-President of the 
New York Company, was born at Edgewater, New Jer¬ 
sey, 23 January, 1869. Educated at Brooklyn Polytechnic 
Institute, 1886, B. A., New York University School of 
Accounting, 1894, C. P. A. In business as Public Ac¬ 
countant from 1886 to date, the present firm name being 
Townsend, Dix and Pogson. Member of Assembly from 
Richmond County, 1900 to 1901. President Stapleton 
National Bank, 1901 to 1907. Vice-President, New York 
Company since 1907. Commissioned as Captain in United 
States Air Service 18 October, 1917, and was sixteen 
months with A. E. F. in France; discharged as Major 
in same service in February, 1919. Member New York 
State Society C. P. A. and American Institute of Account¬ 
ing ; Society Officers of the Great War. Clubs: Manhat¬ 
tan, New York City; Richmond County Country, Staten 


295 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


Island, and Hope, Providence. Residence: Arrochar, 
Staten Island. Address: 45 Nassau Street, New York. 

EDGAR CRATON VAN BRUNDT, Treasurer of the 
Washington Company, was born at Champaign, Illinois, 
23 October, 1874. Five years in banking; five years, Ar¬ 
mour and Company; five years, mining; ten years, fruit 
ranching. Fraternal Orders: Elks and Masonic Mystic 
Shrine. Clubs: Spokane City, Spokane Country, Yakima 
Country, Snipes Gun. Hobby: Golf. Residence, 1206 
East Eighth Avenue, Spokane, Washington. Address: 
Washington and Pacific Avenues, Spokane, Washington. 

GEORGE W. VAN CLEAVE, Assistant Sales Man¬ 
ager of the Northwestern Company, was born at Craw- 
fordsville, Indiana, 30 March, 1879. Education: High 
School and Normal School. From 1896 to 1902, teacher 
in District Schools, Montgomery County, Indiana, and 
Graded Schools, Wingate, Indiana, employing school vaca¬ 
tion periods as farmer, carpenter, mason, draftsman and 
general contractor; from 1903 to 1905, manager grain 
elevators at Wingate and Linden, Indiana; from 1905 to 
1919, in employ of Northwestern Company, serving in 
various positions: draftsman, estimator, Manager Esti¬ 
mating and Cost Departments, and Assistant Sales Man¬ 
ager. Fraternal Order: Knights of Pythias. Club: Chi¬ 
cago Sales Managers AssociationJ Hobby: Reading. 
Residence: 1456 Edgewater Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. 
Address: 2525 Clybourn Avenue, Chicago, Illinois. 

CARL L. H. WAGNER, Secretary of the Central Terra 
Cotta Association, was born at Saginaw, Michigan, 28 
February, 1881. Education: Purdue University, Bach- 


296 


WHO’S WHO IN TERRA COTTA 


elor of Science, School of Mechanical Engineering. Busi¬ 
ness career: 1907 and 1908, Assistant Foreman, pressing 
floor, Northwestern Company; 1909 to 1915, Assistant 
to Vice-President, and Secretary; 1916, Assistant Secre¬ 
tary Central Division National Terra Cotta Society; 1917 
to 1919, Secretary Central Terra Cotta Association. 
Hobby: Sailing. Residence: 536 Roscoe Street, Chicago, 
Illinois. Address: Lumber Exchange Building, 11 South 
La Salle Street, Chicago, Illinois. 

FRITZ WAGNER, former Vice-President and General 
Manager of the Northwestern Company, was born in 
Bavaria, Germany, in 1857. Education: Commercial Tech¬ 
nical Schools in Germany. Came to the United States in 
1876 and settled at Saginaw, Michigan. Was naturalized 
in 1881. Practiced as architect and general contractor. In 
1881 was engaged by the Northwestern Company as out¬ 
side superintendent. In 1886, upon the death of John 
Brunkhorst, he took up the work formerly done by Mr. 
Brunkhorst, and was the point of contact between the 
Company and architects and customers. In 1890, he 
became financially interested in the Company and was 
elected an officer. Later he became Vice-President and 
General Manager, having charge of estimates, sales and 
production. Fie resigned in 1915, and sold his stock in 
1918, and has since devoted himself to his books and 
music. He was President of the National Terra Cotta 
Society from its organization in December, 1911, until 
January, 1917, and is now an Honorary Life Member. 
Fraternal Orders: Mason, National Union. Clubs: 
Press, Architectural and Lincoln, Chicago. Hobby: Out¬ 
door Life. Address: 1049 Oakdale Avenue, Chicago, 
Illinois. 


297 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


EDWARD E. WALL, Secretary of the St. Louis Com¬ 
pany, was born at Cambridge, Missouri, 15 August, 1860. 
Education: University of Missouri, Civil Engineer, class 
of 1884. Civil Engineer on Government and Railroad 
surveys and construction, 1884 to 1890. Engineer and 
contractor, 1890 to 1892. Municipal engineering 1892 
to date, on sewer and design; and on design, construc¬ 
tion and operation of St. Louis Water Works, having 
been Water Commissioner from 1911 to date. Was one 
of the original incorporators of St. Louis Company in 
1898. Fraternal Orders : A. F. & A. M. Clubs: Engineers, 
Noonday, City, Riverview; Member of American Public 
Health Association, American Water Works Association, 
Director of American Society of Civil Engineers. Resi¬ 
dence: 5361 Pershing Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri. 

FRED OTTO WANKA, Manager Terra Cotta Depart¬ 
ment, Los Angeles Pressed Brick Company, was born at 
Los Angeles, California, 31 July, 1887. Education: two 
years, or a short course, in Ceramics, Ohio State Univer¬ 
sity. Business career: Washington Brick, Lime and 
Sewer Pipe Company, six years; Denny-Renton, one and 
a half years; Stockton Fire and Enamel Brick Company, 
Superintendent and later Manager, total time two years; 
Gladding-McBean and Company, one and a half years; 
Los Angeles Pressed Brick Company, two years. Fra¬ 
ternal order: Masonic. Residence: 845 North Bunker 
Hill Avenue. Address: Los Angeles, California. 

HAROLD BERNARD WEY, Vice-President and Gen¬ 
eral Manager of the Atlanta Company, was born at Hia¬ 
watha, Kansas, 7 February, 1883. Education: Atlanta 
Grammar Schools, Peacock’s Preparatory School, Geor- 


298 


IN MEMORIAM 


gia School of Technology, degree B. S. in M. E. With 
Bridgeport Brass Company for four years, followed by 
approximately two years in general civil engineering work 
in office of C. Leroy Richardson. Eleven years in gen¬ 
eral offices of Southern Group of Bell Telephone Com¬ 
pany, as Fundamental Plan Engineer on immediate staff 
of Chief Engineer. Entered terra cotta industry in Octo¬ 
ber, 1919. Patriotic Society: American Legion. From 
May 19, 1917, to March 26, 1919, in United States Army, 
as First-Lieutenant and Captain Signal Corps. Resi¬ 
dence: 287 Myrtle Street, Atlanta. Address: Third 
National Bank Building, Atlanta, Georgia. 



fit jftemortam 

NEHEMIAH CLARK, founder of N. Clark and Sons, 
was born in Delaware, 4 April, 1828, died in April, 1897. 
He was taught the pottery business in Zanesville, Ohio, 
in the year 1848. Engaged in the clay business in Texas 
in 1849, from which State he migrated to California in 
1850, being one of the Pioneers. For fourteen years he 
was engaged in mining and cattle raising. In 1864, he 
started a pottery at Sacramento for the manufacture of 
stone-ware, to which he added a sewer pipe plant two 
years later. In 1882, he organized the firm of N. Clark 
and Sons, taking his two sons, George D. and Albert V. 
Clark, into partnership with himself. In 1889, the busi¬ 
ness was incorporated under the name of N. Clark and 
Sons. Mr. Clark was a pioneer in the clay business on 
the Pacific Coast. 


299 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


IRA LEWIS CONKLING, former President of the 
Conkling-Armstrong Company, was born at Mana- 
hawken, New Jersey, 21 November, 1859; died at Phila¬ 
delphia, 20 September, 1915. In 1871, his family moved to 
Perth Amboy, where, three years later, he began work in 
the pottery of A. Hall and Sons. He continued with the 
A. Hall works until the organization of the Perth Amboy 
Company in 1879, of which he was one of the first em¬ 
ployes. In 1880, when the Boston Company was started, 
he went there and remained about a year. When Alfred 
Hall founded the A. Hall Company in 1883, he returned 
to Perth Amboy and was with the new Company for sev¬ 
eral years. In 1887, he became a partner in the firm of 
Stephens and Leach, manufacturers of architectural terra 
cotta, at Philadelphia. At this time, the name was changed 
to Stephens, Leach and Conkling. The following year, 
the interest of Mr. Leach was purchased by Conkling’s 
brother-in-law, Thomas F. Armstrong, and the firm name 
became Stephens, Armstrong and Conkling. In January, 
1894, he became the Superintendent of the New York 
Company, where he remained for one year. In 1895, with 
Armstrong, he organized the Conkling-Armstrong Terra 
Cotta Company, of which he was President until his 
death in 1915. 

CHARLES GLADDING, former President (1886 to 
1894) Gladding, McBean and Company, was born in Erie 
County, New York, 28 April, 1828; died 17 January, 
1894. Education: Country School. Contractor in Chi¬ 
cago, 1856 to 1875. In 1875, formed the firm of Gladding, 
McBean and Company, with which he was identified till 
his death. Patriotic Societies: Grand Army of the Re¬ 
public and Loyal Legion. Fraternal Order: Masonic. 


300 


IN MEMORIAM 


ALFRED HALL, founder of the Perth Amboy Com¬ 
pany, was born at Meriden, Connecticut, 22 May, 1803; 
died at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, in April, 1887. About 
1826, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and began the manu¬ 
facture of bricks. In 1842, he invented a brick machine 
which was quite generally adopted throughout the coun¬ 
try. In 1845, he visited England and remained about a 
year securing patents on his machine. On his return he 
located at Perth Amboy on account of the clay mines in 
that vicinity, and spent the remainder of his life there. 
He founded the A. Hall and Sons Fire Brick Works, 
about the year 1846. In 1877, he began the manu¬ 
facture of architectural terra cotta at his plant, and two 
years later he organized the Perth Amboy Company, of 
which he was President until he resigned in January, 
1881. Two years later he organized the A. Hall Com¬ 
pany, of which he was President until his death in 1887. 

EDWARD JULIUS HALL, former President of the 
Perth Amboy Company, was born at Perth Amboy, New 
Jersey, 31 March, 1853; died at Morristown, 17 Septem¬ 
ber, 1914. Graduated at Sheffield Scientific School, Yale, 
1873, degree Ph. B. He was a member of the Delta Psi 
Fraternity. From 1873 to 1875, he studied to be a Blast 
Furnace Engineer. From 1875 to 1879, he was Manager 
of the Hall and Sons Works at Black Rock (Buffalo). 
In 1879, he organized the Bell Telephone Company of 
Buffalo, of which he was elected Vice-President and Gen¬ 
eral Manager. In February, 1882, he resigned and went 
to New York to take up the active management of the 
Perth Amboy Company, which he retained for three 
years. From 1885, until his death in 1914, he was Vice- 
President and General Manager of the American Tele- 


301 


THE STORY OF TERRA COTTA 


phone and Telegraph Company . Clubs: University, Mar¬ 
ion County Golf, Larchmont Yacht. His residence was 
Morristown, N. J. 

WILLIAM CORNELIUS HALL, former Vice-Presi¬ 
dent and General Manager of the Perth Amboy Com¬ 
pany, was born at New Orleans, Louisiana, 23 January, 
1855; died at 52 West 9th Street, New York, 6 June, 
1911. He graduated at Sheffield Scientific School, Yale, 
in 1875, degree B. S. He was a member of the Delta Psi 
Fraternity. Member of the New York Sculptors, and 
Municipal Art Societies, New York. Clubs: University, 
Saint Anthony, Strollers, National Arts, Lambs, New 
York Yacht and Larchmont Yacht. His residence was 
New York City. 

JAMES TAYLOR, “the Father of Terra Cotta in 
America,” was born in England in 1839; died at Port 
Monmouth, New Jersey, 24 December, 1898. As a young 
man he began work at Stamford, England, in the plant of 
J. M. Blashfield, the well-known manufacturer of archi¬ 
tectural terra cotta. Here he rose to the position of 
Superintendent. In 1870, he emigrated to America, and 
became Superintendent of the Chicago Works. In 1878, 
when a large contract was taken in Boston, Taylor, who 
had retired and gone to New Jersey the year before, was 
engaged to come to Boston and superintend the manu¬ 
facture. A year later, when this contract had been fin¬ 
ished, Harry A. Lewis leased part of the same plant and 
began the manufacture of terra cotta with Taylor as 
Superintendent. When the Boston Company was 
founded in October, 1880, Taylor became Superintendent, 
and remained there until January, 1886, when he went 




302 


IN MEMORIAM 


to New York to take the same position with the New 
York Company, which he retained until 1893. He then 
retired to his farm in New Jersey where he passed the 
remainder of his days. 

BENJAMIN D. WALCOTT, former President of the 
Indianapolis Company, was born at New York Mills, 
Oneida County, New York, 3 June, 1851; died at Indian¬ 
apolis, 20 February, 1916. Graduate of Whitestown 
Seminary, Whitestown, New York. About 1875 he moved 
to Indianapolis and became Teller in the Citizens National 
Bank. Organized National Bank of Greenfield, Indiana. 
Engaged in General Insurance and Real Estate. Formed 
firm of Walcott and Wright for sale of yellow pine lum¬ 
ber. Purchased interest in Indianapolis Company in 
1895. Clubs: Columbia, Country, and German House 
of Indianapolis. Hobby: Fly fishing. 


\ 


303 














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